Inheritance: Tumblr prompts & More
by VesperChan
Summary: A collection of oneshot writing prompts all on the subject of inheritance or something else from tumblr, each one a story unto itself. Sakuracentric with multiple pairings. Request are managed on tumblr.
1. Uchiha Mom

1\. "you died and left me your children, even though they're only a few years younger then me" (Uchiha Sakura) requested by thealicehuntt

* * *

Sakura was really good with kids, like, it was somewhat unusual how skilled she was at worming her way into their hearts and gaining their trust. It was one of the things she was know among the older crowds for.

Still...that wasn't a good enough excuse for what Tajima pulled with this, 'I leave all my children in the caring hands of my sister at heart, Haruno Sakura.' Yeah, it was cute he called her his sister at heart, because they were best buds, but really? Her? Mother children?

"I'm still allowed to drink, right?" Sakura asked, looking sideways at her friend who was already one kid in. Ino smirked.

"As long as you're not cooking anything in the oven, drinking is a necessary evil. I don't know how Sai does it."

Sakura moaned, grabbing at her face and turning back on her heel, away from the front gates to the Uchiha estate. "There are so many other Uchiha he could have asked, though. An-and Madara is like, sixteen. They don't need me."

"You really want another Uchiha raising those Uchiha boys? They're emotionally neglected enough as it is. They didn't even seem phased at the funeral."

Sakura remembered back to the funeral she had attended only a handful of days ago, and how upset she had been. Just because the boys weren't bawling into their tissues didn't mean they weren't grieving in their own way. He was their dad!

"I don't know how to do this," Sakura admitted, even as she rang the bell and stepped back.

Beside her, Ino smiled to herself. Even if she was scared, Sakura never stepped away from doing the right thing.

A maid led both girls in and took their coats. A manservant came up and introduced himself as the head caretaker of the house. He would be taking care of the needs to the manor, which would go to Madara as soon as he turned eighteen along with a bulk of the properties.

Sakura didn't get to see any of that, but a stipulation of the will provided that she be given shelter for as long as she asked in any of the properties. Failure to accommodate her request would result in the loss of that property. This didn't sit well with a few of the other Uchiha who inherited property, but Sakura wasn't planning on mooching off anyone or staying anywhere she wasn't welcomed.

"The boys will see you now."

Sakura looked behind her to Ino, eyes wide with fear. Ino just waved goodbye and let herself out. Sakura would be on her own from that point forward.

Tajima had two natural sons, but had taken in three other boys before passing. Madara was the oldest at sixteen, his brother Izuna was fifteen, then there was Kagami, Shisui, and little Obito. From what she heard the two oldest were very traditional while the two in the middle were uncharacteristically energetic and loud, leaving Obito too little to see how he turned out.

The doors to the library opened and Sakura caught her breath, bracing for the first impression.

* * *

Things didn't go as smoothly as Sakura would have liked after that disastrous first meeting. The door had been rigged with a bucket of chalk powder that Shisui took great delight in seeing fall as planned right atop her head. He and Kagami cackled evilly while Madara didn't acknowledge her presence once during the whole introduction. Izuna greeted her highly, the way you would greet the staff of a restaurant you never planned on going back to.

Out of all of them only Obito seemed warm to her. He was five and too young to have a rotten personality, she decided.

She helped the head make their morning breakfast and called them down for school before wishing them a good day. None of them paid her any mind apart from Obito who insisted on being held as he ate his breakfast. He was warm and Sakura wanted to hug him all day long, like a stress ball.

When the boys returned home from school she tried to help them with homework and interject herself into their lives, but only Izuna seemed to respond to her in those cold stiff words of his.

The first week was hell.

"Obaa chan," a voice called out to her from the doorway. Sakura roused from bed and saw it was Obito in his dinosaur onesie. His eyes were wet again and his tiny hands were shaking.

"Come here, baby," Sakura sighed, holding out her arms and taking him into bed with her.

He curled up into a tight ball and shook with the aftershock from another terrible nightmare. He got them every few nights but this was the first time he came to her about it. When she checked in on him in the past he had hidden from her and refused to see anyone. None of his brothers seemed to care.

He was warm and his hair was just long enough to start curling. He was from a different branch family, but he looked a lot like Shisui, she thought. She took great delight in running her fingers through his curls and he seemed to melt under her hand.

"Better?" she hummed, sitting up and watching as he followed her onto her lap, laying his head there.

"You're not going to leave, are you?" he asked in a tired whisper.

"Not anytime soon. Why do you ask?"

His voice was soft and low, close to sleep. "Nannies always leave. None of them ever stay."

"I'm not a nanny. I"m more like an aunt."

He pulled himself up, curling more into her tummy atop her lap. "None of those want us, not even Madara. They just want the houses and the monies, so Madara said he'd make you leave too."

Sakura's fingers stilled before she remembered herself and went back to finger combing his hair. "Oh? Did he tell you why or how he was going to do that?"

"Nuh, not to me."

"It's okay," Sakura whispered, watching his eyes drift closed. His snores were light a few seconds later as he went slack on her lap. He was too adorable looking like a curled up cartoon dinosaur. "I'm not planning on going anywhere."

* * *

"You're quite fortunate to have Sakura san so close," Itachi admitted, eyes soft as he watched clouds from the school window.

Shisui blanched in his seat. "Ew, why would you say something like that? She's just another stupid Uchiha digger, in it for the money and junk."

Itachi blinked, looking away from the window to his cousin and best friend. "You don't like her?" He sounded surprised. "I thought she would be your type."

There was a light blush across the front of Shisui's face, but he buried his expression in his folded arms to hide it from Itachi. "Just because she's cute doesn't mean I have to like her. She'll be gone in another week just like the others. Madara is freezing her out and Izuna is giving her the 'help' treatment. She won't last."

"That sounds unkind."

"It's what they do with all the ones that come through. She's no different."

Itachi stared at his cousin before a slow smile started to spread across his face. "You don't know why Tajima chose her to be your guardian, do you?" he asked in a knowing tone. It irked Shisui.

"He probably had the hots for her or something. She could have seduced him or…or…she used to work at the hospital, I think. Maybe she took advantage of him when he was sick."

Itachi was still smirking and it drove Shisui crazy.

"If you know something I don't then spit it out," Shisui snapped.

"No, I wouldn't want to deprive you of the joy of discovery. It's better if you found out for yourself. You wouldn't believe me if I told you what I knew anyway."

"Che, you're just making stuff up. I bet there's nothing more to her than a pretty face." Shisui started to turn back around in his seat, noticing the teacher walking back into the classroom. "But how did you know about Sakura?"

Now it was Itachi's turn to blush. "She's the only doctor my family will allow. She preformed my surgery last year and has been who I go see every moth after rehabilitation."

Shisui straightened and turned around in his seat, eyes wide. "That was her? She's too young!"

"Uchiha san," the teacher called out in a gruff voice. "The class is starting. Please save your comments for later if you wish to speak with your cousin any more than this."

That night when the boys trailed in after school Sakura was at the door with Obito hanging onto her leg, looking sleepy. She smiled wide and greeted them the same she did every day, not seeming to care that no one responded to her and effectivly ignored her all the way in.

Madara, Izuna, and Kagami went on ahead, each as silent as the grave, leaving Shisui out on the doorstep by himself. Sakura turned back to look at him and her smile faltered.

"Shisui?"

Slowly, he stepped over the threshold and started to tug off his shoes. "I-I'm home."

Kagami, who was still in the hall, turned sharply on his heel to look at his adopted brother while Izuna and Madara both froze. The eldest son turned slowly to glare back over his shoulder at Shisui, but Shisui just swallowed and straightened his shoulders.

"Welcome home, Shisui," Sakura breathed, her smile bright and wide.

* * *

It was actually Izuna who tried to break her next.

"I need an adult to meet for parent teacher conference week. Will you attend or should I inform the school I will have no one?" Izuna asked, tilting his chin up as he looked at her.

"Oh-oh, of course. Yes, tell them I will be there. When and where will I meet with your teacher?"

Izuna handed her a card with the date and time. On the back was the classroom number right above the teacher's name. "Please keep this to aide you."

Sakura took it and looked the card over. "That's fantastic. Your school must be fancier than mine ever was," Sakura hummed, glancing up as Obito tottered into the room and made a beeline for her lap. She didn't protest as he climbed up and dragged a picture book with him.

Izuna huffed at the sight before starting to turn away. "Undoubtably. The Uchiha are afforded only the best."

"I'll be there for this meeting," Sakura promised, kissing the top of Obito's head.

Izuna paused at the edge of the room and smiled politely. It was a perfect smile that would have fooled anyone, but Sakura was used to having Sai as a best friend. She saw right through it.

"Thank you for being so considerate with sharing your time," Izuna said, nodding to her once before slipping away.

He never mentioned how the time and location were all wrong, but planned on bragging to Madara how bad he would make her look in front of not just the boys, but the whole school. Hopefully that would cheer his brother up after that stunt Shisui pulled when he switched sides. The little traitor was now honestly pleasant with the woman, pretending that Madara never orchestrated the whole freeze out in the first place.

Even Kagami was starting to get bored and lessen up on his pranks. He didn't seem as 'interested' in making her cry after so many failed attempts. It didn't help that Sakura seemed to find his pranks almost as funny as Kagami himself. That did a lot to destroy the moral of the freeze out occupants.

The next day Izuna headed to his appointment with the teacher and seated himself, prepared to wait as long as need be for the woman who would show up two hours late and in the wrong classroom. It would be boring to stay seated in silence for that long, but Izuna was nothing if not committed to the whims and desires of his eldest brother. If Madara thought they were better off without this one, Izuna would do whatever it took to make his brother happy. If he had to humiliate the poor woman than so-

"Sorry I'm late," Sakura gasped, near breathless as she pushed the door all the way open. Her hair was a wild mess of soft curls that seemed to glow from the sunlight filtering in behind her. When she smiled it was dazzling. "I had to take the stairs because the elevator was packed. You're very busy today."

"Not at all, we're glad you could join us," the teacher began, standing to shake her hand.

She laughed and let herself into the room easily, taking his hand. "Haruno Sakura," she said. "And thank you for the clarification on today's time and location. It was helpful."

She took a seat beside and smiled easily at his flummoxed expression. It wasn't a mean smile either, but one that seemed full of amusement. Her eyes were sparkling after all.

"Well, are you ready to hear how amazing Izuna is doing?" the teacher asked.

Sakura set down her purse and leaned in. "Of course."

* * *

"You've done a wonderful job this past month, but you've effectively devastated my brother, I'm afraid."

Sakura stilled and stood up from the bath she was scrubbing down. Madara stood in the doorway, his arms crossed looking as haughty as ever. It wasn't a coincidence that he was choosing to finally speak with her after such a long freeze out when she was bent over in menial labor looking more like a housemaid than a Uchiha guardian.

"I'm sorry if Izuna isn't feeling well, but he's been doing so well in school he can afford a day off or two. Is there something else you wanted to talk to me about, or do you want to go back to pretending you can't speak to women."

"It's just you, don't think too much of yourself," Madara huffed, lifting his chin. "Things are no different. I still don't accept you."

Sakura pouted. "You're so stubborn, Madara chan, just like your father when he was that age."

There was a still in the air between them as Sakura went on scrubbing and Madara reeled from her words.

"You're far too young to speak like you knew him, woman," he finally grumbled out, sounding less lofty.

"You're so sweet, but I'm actually a lot older than I look. But don't tell anyone. People still think I'm twenty three when I tell them that and it makes me feel good."

He glared. "I'm not going to ask you how old you are."

Sakura glanced back over her shoulder, still scrubbing away the stains in her own tub. "You're not curious at all, are you? That's another thing you and your father have in common, you're both terrible liars when you're embarassed. Ruffle the feathers of an Uchiha and suddenly they're an open book of expressions."

Madara was never readable, not even when he was ruffled. She irked him to no end with her presumptions. "You did something to the old man for this. I don't know what it was, but it can't be worth it. How much was it and what is it worth to you to walk away?"

"Grow up and maybe I'll consider it, but until you're actually an adult, Madara chan, I'm here to stay. That's what your dad wanted, and I'm going to do right by his memory, even if you're a little unhappy about it."

"Don't talk about him like you two were close. He never mentioned you." Madara reached into the back pocket of his black denim jeans and started to write out something while she continued to clean in the tub.

"Yo, your dad didn't talk about anything without a pretty good reason. We called him the stone because that's how much lip flapping he did. I'm not surprised he didn't sit you down and talk about all the other members on his squad units when he was in the force or in the coalition. You hear about Butsuma or Toka? No?"

Sakura sat up in the tub and narrowed her eyes at the younger boy's hands.

"What are you doing?"

Madara ripped the paper free from the checking book and turned it around before sliding it across the counter. "Write in what you want, it won't make a dent. Take it and never look back."

Sakura left the scrub brush behind as she stood and stepped out of the tub, holding onto the wall for balance. She reached for the check and then looked to Madara. He watched her, unblinking as she took his blank check and lowered it slowly into the open toilet. Sakura grinned as the paper soaked through before pulling it out again and dropping it into the trash.

"You'll regret that," Madara threatened.

Sakura rolled her shoulders and sat back down on the edge of the tub. "You're cute when you think you're scary, Madara chan, but save your energy. You have mock entrance exams coming up in a few weeks and your teacher promised to get me the study materials you would need once results are posted."

Madara turned on his heel and left her there, fuming as he locked himself away and skipped dinner.

Later that night he woke up panting, the image of his current caretaker rising from a bubble bath in nothing but bubbles and that wicked smile haunting him more vividly than ever before. He groaned and held his face, knowing he shouldn't have talked to her. It only made the dreams worse.

* * *

Sakura waited by the car for the boys to file in, tugging her coat closer. Moments later the head maid held open the doors for all five of them to file out. Obito skipped half the steps down as he raced to greet her.

"Oba-oba-oba!" he chanted, jumping for her. "I look like a soft man now. Tell me I look nice pleeeeeease."

"You always look adorable, Obito chan, but tonight you look extra good. Are you looking forward to the party? Sasuke will be there for you to play with."

Obito hummed, but was already wiggling out of her arms back to Shisui who helped him into his car seat. Kagami waited and watched the two younger boys before smiling up at Sakura.

"You did a good job on your makeup, Sakura chan," Kagami complimented. "I'm sure you're just as elegantly dressed, but I'll save my compliment for later once we are inside." His smirk was flirtatious for a fourteen year old.

"You can buckle up," Shisui grumbled, tugging on the older boy's arm. "And cut that out. You're creeping her out with your old lines."

"At least I have lines."

"I-I have lines too!" Shisui inflated where he sat in the back of the limo. Kagami rolled his eyes and shook his head dismissively. It only angered the younger Uchiha more. Obito kicked his legs in the carseat and played with the buttons on his coat.

Sakura looked up to see both Madara and Izuna round the opposite side of the limo and take their seats without a word. It was back to the silent treatment it seemed. She wanted to believe she was close, it had been over a month of living together and she had already won over three out of five of them. Madara would talk to her ever so often, mostly to tell her to leave and insult her, but Izuna was still polite with her at least. He didn't meet her eyes anymore, but he also didn't try to get her lost or sent to the wrong place anymore.

Sakura slipped in last to the passenger's seat in the front and watched the manor pull away as they turned towards one of the branch family homes for the evening party. The Uchiha had parties on the average every three months, excluding December where there were entire weeks of parties. Sakura had to dip into her personal funds for a new dress.

"Is this your first time at an Uchiha party?" Shisui asked, leaning over the headrest as far as he could to see her better.

"My first in a while," Sakura admitted, watching as the new home came into view. "It's been a few years since I've had to dress up for anything."

"It's your first time as our guardian then," Shisui added, tone thoughtful. Behind him Madara huffed, smirk taunting. It was enough to make Shisui ruffle, but Kagame held up a hand and stopped it before it could escalate.

Sakura glanced up into the mirrors and smiled to herself. "It'll be nice to see a few old friends. We're almost there. You boys ready?"

No one knew how untrue their answers were when they all said they were before exiting the limo.

Madara and Izuna stayed close to each other as the younger brood raced off to greet friends. The other Uchiha children were present at the party and Shisui and Obito were especially close with a couple of them.

"Did Sakura chan come?" Itachi asked after greeting Shisui.

The question made Madara pause and exchange a glance with his brother. The pair hung back to watch from a short distance as Shisui begrudgingly led Itachi over to the front entrance where Sakura had been talking to the coat check woman.

She undid the front of her cloak and the fur fell away to expose the element folds of a midnight blue strapless that bled to black at the bottom and white at the neck. It was cinched at the waist but the curves were by no means lost. It came up into a high neck collar and when she turned to pass the coat back Madara hear the Itachi boy make a sound as he nearly stumbled. It was backless and low enough to show off a generous canvass of skin. It also distracted the average eye from how few jewels she wore.

Madara hated how he could already feel the flavor and direction of his dreams that night.

Sakura became the focus of a handful of young boys, most of whom chose to observe her from a distance. Madara and Izuna watched her socialize with ease, greeting old and young Uchiha alike. No one seemed to dislike her and a few went out of their way to greet her.

A few young Uchiha bachelors.

Kagami, Shisui, and Itachi were a mess of stealth, making it obvious who they were tracking but Sakura never seemed to care. After a while she asked Itachi to dance and the boy looked over the moon at the offer, much to the horror of Shisui and Kagami alike. Sakura danced with all of them eventually. She might have even danced with Izuna and Madara if they didn't pull away when she looked for them.

"You're still committed to hating her?" Izuna asked as the night aged.

"You sound tired. Do you want to give up?" Madara bit back.

"I'll do whatever you wish, but is this what you wish. You're staring at her the way I stare at her, the way those boys stare at her." Izuna ducked his head and blushed. "Also, the walls are thin between our bedrooms. I know better."

Madara refused to blush.

"She's just here for the money. She'll leave once she gets what she wants. Best not to get attached."

* * *

They left together before midnight, but by the time their car pulled in and the boys were put to bed it was well after the witching hour. Obito clung to her even in his sleep and it took a bit longer to settle him, but Sakura finally accomplished her goal.

She was wiping off her make up in a nightgown and house slippers when she heard the scuffle. Sakura dropped the wet pad back onto the vanity and crept out into the hallway, drawing her silk robe closed to keep back the chill. She saw a door open and Izuna poked his head out. A second later Madara did as well.

"Was that you?" the eldest hissed at her.

Sakura touched a finger to her lips and passed them up, slipping out of her slippers as she walked and bending low into the shadows. The boys stayed in the hallway, thankfully, as she made her way down the stairs and onto the main floor. She found the overturned vase and righted it, before turning and scanning the room. There was no way a vase as heavy as that one turned over on it's own.

She swept the rooms, one by one, going slow and remembering much as old training took over. She was nearly through the first floor when she heard it. Footsteps on the stairs. There were two of them, both looking familiar until Sakura remembered seeing their faces at the party earlier. Most of the Uchiha were still celebrating and it was unusual for members to leave as early as Sakura, but she had to with the kids. It was a smart idea to sneak out and try to rob the homes of people you knew were still out partying. Too bad these boys didn't do their homework well enough.

She trailed them up, feeling her robe open and flap soundlessly behind her, as she made her steps low to the ground and long. She was behind the first one and struck before he could hear. He went down in a crumple and that was enough to make the first robber take notice.

Still too late.

They exchanged a few blows, but it was laughable how easy his moves were to see through. He wasn't trained, he wasn't fast, just a little strong and stupid.

Sakura was stronger.

The sound of him falling limp drew Madara and Izuna both out of their rooms, but the rest of the boys stayed asleep. Sakura saw their eyes widen at the sight.

"Keep it quiet, but Madara, call the police department for a pick up. I'll take these boys down to the front to meet them. But go back to bed after that. You need your rest."

"Who…?" Izuna let his question hang.

"Simple thieves," Sakura answered with ease, picking one up by the belt loop and heaving him up onto her shoulder before grabbing the other to stack onto her opposite shoulder. "Now go to sleep."

Sakura turned and started carrying them down the stairs, only slightly annoyed when she heard the boys follow after her. They never listened to her before, so why would they now? Sakura was in the foyer when she hear the shot. It rang out and ripped right through her lower abdomen. She fell with both bodies sliding off her shoulders, only to turn and see a third man, also from the party.

'Shit, I got sloppy.'

Izuna screamed her name and Sakura saw the thug turn. He almost raise his gun but Sakura flung the blunt side of a cartridge at his head and rushed went down like a sack of potatoes and she pummeled into him like he was her punching bag. He tried to swing back, but Sakura hit hard and there were teeth on the floor, bloody at the root and freely scattered.

He stopped moving and so did Sakura. He was still alive, but recovery would be a bitch and take forever.

There were sirens outside as Sakura started to stand. The blood leaking out of her was thick in color, staining huge slabs of her nightwear.

"Why would you do that?" Izuna asked on a strangled note of panic. Sakura looked up and saw both boys not far away, Madara crouched protectively in front of her brother. She turned a little and lights from the outside made the room bright enough to see how wet with blood she was for a split second.

"You're hurt!" Madara exclaimed, even as Izuna pushed forward to try and reach her first with helpful hands.

Sakura kept them back with a hand raise and told them to not get too close or else they would get dirty too.

"Like any of us care about that now," Madara muttered, looking down at the destroyed face of her shooter. "Where did you learn to do such damage?"

There were police rushing in and flooding the foyer. A few went to the knocked out thieves and a pair went to Sakura, helping with her wound and pushing Izuna aside. Over their shoulders Sakura's eyes found Madara's. She smiled and he felt pinned to the spot. She touched her lips and let the on site paramedics patch her up while she recounted her tale to the police officers.

It was probably the last night Madara was embarassed about his dreams and also the last night of the freeze out. A month later and the oddly aged family unit was unrecognizable.

* * *

"They're really overdoing it. It's a little cold, but you'd think she'd freeze and die with a stray wind," Fugaku huffed to his wife, watching Madara and Izuna fuss over Sakura's lack of a scarf when she said she was going out to the car to get something she forgot. It was a half minute walk and they insisted on making her wear a scarf and hat, much to her displeasure.

"They're trying to stand out," Mikoto cooed into her husband's ear. "Don't tell me you missed how our son fawns over her. He's been doing that for ages and they're all trying to catch up."

"They're brainless."

Mikoto smirked. "Uchiha boys usually are when it comes to matters of the heart, my love."

* * *

AN: These are all going to be oneshots based on what was asked of me on tumblr. The ask box is closed for the foreseeable future, but I may open up requests later on.

Original prompt list:

1\. "you died and left me your children, even though they're only a few years younger then me"

2\. "you died and left me a haunted house"

3\. "you died and left me an obscure magical object, I'm not sure what it does, and your instruction sheet just says 'have fun storming the castle!'"

4\. "you died and left me a fanatically loyal warrior order"

5\. "you died and left me a bunch of money and a pile of _really weird_ IOUs?! why did someone owe you a free body disposal. why did someone owe you two brides and a goat. why did someone owe you an island. WHY"

6\. "you died and left me to _repay_ a bunch of _really weird_ IOUs"

7\. "you died and left me a small country"

8\. "you died and left me six research labs that operate in international waters and I'm kind of scared to find out why keeping them out there was a stipulation of the will"

9\. "you died and left me a menagerie of animals that are supposed to be extinct? and some that aren't supposed to be _real?_ where did you get unicorns. where did you get gryphons. where did you get pegasi?"

10\. "you died and left me on the hook for a hereditary marriage contract"


	2. Fox Inn

10\. "you died and left me on the hook for a hereditary marriage contract" (with the Uzumaki clan) by Thefreckledone

* * *

"Yeah, but it's not a literal marriage, right? That's insane, and probably illegal," Sakura asked over the speakerphone while lining her eyes with black liquid until they were perfect wings.

"You'll have to clear that up with the family in question. Those were the only lines pertaining to you in the will," Kakashi droned on, likely reading something while he also spoke over speaker phone. "You're meeting with them today, correct?"

"As soon as I hang up I'm heading on over there."

Sakura pulled away from the mirror and blinked a few times. She liked the ritual of painting herself up if it was before something that made her nervous. A test was less stressful with the right lipstick. A job interview turned into a cakewalk with enough mascara. It was at times like these she missed Ino most.

"You need an escort?"

"You think I need one?" she laughed.

She looked like a princess but she knew no amount of make up would make her right hook any less lethal. Her phone slipped off the side of the vanity and started to fall. Before it could fall halfway she grabbed it also pinned the wet rollers that were starting to tip over the ledge. Her speed wasn't anything to sneer at either. If she was one of Kakashi's top students that should count for enough.

She heard his sigh on the other end and set her phone back down, making sure it was flat on the table top this time. "You'll call after your meeting, otherwise I'll show up on my own and make sure my favorite student's not being forced into a literal child bride contract."

"I'm hardly a child anymore."

"Same difference to me."

She changed out her studs for dangling earrings, almost finished. "Hey, you never know. I might end up taking advantage of the inheritance if they are cute."

"You don't even know who they are, or what they are."

Sakura checked her hair once more in the mirror. It looked light and fluffy, perfect for a night in sock rolls. "Doesn't matter to me. I'm heading out now. I'll text you when I get more information."

Kakashi sounded like he wanted to say more but she cut off the call and dumped her phone into her purse, keys already in hand.

The Uzumaki clan's compound was actually pretty far north, up in the mountains where the hot springs were famous and roads were thin. The clan was pretty traditional from the sounds of it. They ran an inn famed for its own private hot springs that made it a local jewel for the village.

It took her over an hour to make it driving the way she did. Halfway there she knew she could never move so far north, she was too used to multi lane highways and plenty of space to speed on straight roadways.

She pushed her sunglasses up onto her head, pinning back her hair. She whistled low at the sight of the sprawling manor. Not bad if this was what she got to marry into. The idea still made her laugh. All her friends thought it was laughable as well, but a few had been concerned, taking it seriously.

' _If they're really traditional they may stick to it,'_ Hinata told her, speaking from personal experience.

Sakura's plan had been to look as prissy as possible and be her usual self. That was sure to scare them off and make them want out of the deal as much as her. She wasn't this old and still single without a reason.

On the first level there were stairs down to the restaurant part of the inn and stairs up to the rooms. A hallway led back to the springs. Sakura stopped at the receptionists desk and waved to the girl impeccably dressed like a woman straight out of history. ' _Cute_.'

"Hello," Sakura greeted, still cheerful and excited to see more of the inn before going back. "I'm Sakura Haruno. I have an appointment here I believe with Kushina Uzumaki."

The woman nodded, wordless and opened the book to scan the list of names. She found one and glanced up at Sakura before reading whatever note had been beside the name. Sakura watched the girl swallow and stiffly raise her eyes again. "One moment, madam. I shall phone them now."

Sakura grinned when she saw the old fashioned rotary phone that looked like it belonged back at the turn of the century. It was perfectly elegant, like so much of the inn. Sakura took a step back and entertained herself with the wall art to give the girl the feeling of privacy while on the phone.

"Yes….yes, she is….is she-oh, um….yes, I think so. Of course. Yes."

Sakura heard the ending of the call as the hand piece was returned to the cradle with a click. Sakura turned back around and waited to be addressed, noting a vein of nervousness in the woman's posture now.

"Kushina Uzumaki is expecting you in the gardens. Follow this hallway out and turn left away from the springs." The girl gave further instructs and Sakura thanked her for them before going off.

The hall seemed to go on forever. Sakura swore she saw that same ink painting on the wall before. It was so odd, because she knew she hadn't turned left or right. There was something off about the hall.

She forced herself to stop and concentrate on her breathing. She felt her mental spirit mount with the determination to break through any spiritual barrier or illusion and opened her eyes again. She could see the end of the hallway but didn't walk towards it. Cautiously, she turned on her heel and saw behind her a red fox.

"That how you welcome all your guests?" she joked with a wry grin. It tensed at her tone and she bared her teeth at it, sending it running off into the shadows.

No wonder Kakashi had been worried about her. The spiritual side of her training was not her strong suit, since she switched over her focus to the physical side of things three years back. Still, she was his best student, so illusions cast by demons of such a low level weren't something she was concerned about, even if she didn't come from a clan.

She found the garden, but it was empty. Her senses tingled and she carefully set down her purse on one of the tables before turning slowly and seeing the same fox from before, only this time it had more than one tail and beside it was a black forest fox.

"I'm not sure if this is worth it, but I'm here, so I might as well humor the family," Sakura hummed, pretending to be more concerned with her nails. "You going to bite me or talk, kit?"

"You're the one Tsunade sent?" a new voice hissed. Sakura glanced back over her shoulder to see a female fox, standing atop one of the tables.

"I'm the one she mentioned in her will. A matter which I wanted to clear up, because I thought it was absurd to come across such an odd inheritance stipulation. I'm guessing this is the part where you try to eat me, or was the story about Kushina being here a lie?"

"She'll be here if you're worth speaking to."

"I'm really not. I'm nothing special and I just wanted to be polite before putting this whole misunderstanding behind us," Sakura joked, waving her hands. "You wanna just let me go and we can pretend this never happened?"

"We would of if you didn't break through the illusion. Now we have to…" the black one dipped his head before the fox beside him-a twin-finished the sentence.

"-See what kind of meat Tsunade left us!"

Sakura felt the fox fire behind her but ducked fast, snarling at the thought of her hair being singed. She hadn't picked the right sort of shoes for this sort of nonsense. The tags were pinned to the garter under her skirt and she slipped a couple out with ease before throwing one like a dart at the female fox. It stuck her with a yelp and Sakura activated the seal that canceled out fire.

"No more of that, kit," Sakura teased, using her banter as a way to ground herself in battle. It was the next best thing if she didn't have sour candies to chew on. She hadn't been expelling demons long enough to be able to manage without some sort of crutch, like Kakashi or even Might Guy. She was still learning, but she was confident she could handle three adolescent kits.

The black one lunged for her, inflating in size until he was bigger than a dog, but Sakura caught him by the throat and slammed him hard into the ground, knowing he wouldn't get up, demon or not. That was the price of over estimating her.

"Menma!" the other fox cried, running towards his twin.

Sakura was fast and grabbed him by the tail before yanking him back and flipping him up onto his back. He tried to grow under her, suddenly thick with chakra, but Sakura supplanted her heel on his neck and bared her teeth, another paper seal between her fingers. The girl fox was still caught in the first one.

"Of dear, my precious babies were quite embarrassing," a new voice cut in, followed by hand clapping.

Sakura stepped off the fox's throat and turned to the woman with long red hair. Sakura released the seal binding the female fox and her fire down and as soon as she was free she dashed for the woman Sakura guessed to be Kushina. The one under her heel ran to his brother, whining and chirping.

"If I knew it was going to have been like this I would have traded in the heels for flats," Sakura sighed, tone level as she turned her back to the woman and reached for her purse. When she turned around the female fox was a red haired girl wearing glasses and looking flustered.

"You looked superb regardless, Sakura chan. I'm so glad Tsunade recommended you to us," the woman cooed, folding her hands and smiling brightly. "You're adorable."

In spite of herself, Sakura felt herself blush. "Ah, thank you. I suppose the marriage contract was just a farce to get me here and see what I could do?"

On the ground the two fox brothers had turned back to boys and the one she knocked down was starting to rouse, surprising Sakura. The Uzumaki were a hardy bunch if he was waking up so soon.

She had been right about them being twins though, the only difference between them was that one had dark black hair, but both sported whiskers. They looked to be around her age, which was surprising, since neither had more than two tails.

"Oh no, dear, that isn't true at all. We fully intend on engaging you to one of our clan's children."

Sakura blinked, staring up from the boys. "What?"

Kushina kissed the girl in glasses' head and pushed her forward. "This is my niece Karin. On the ground are my sons, Naruto, and the darker one is Menma."

Sakura was still struggling with what was said earlier. "…What?"

"Oh, and my husband is out, but he'll introduce himself later. He's really looking forward to having another girl in the family. It's been hard on Karin being the only one. Speaking of that, which do you prefer, girls or boys? Or do you not care?"

Sakura felt numb in her bones. "…What?"

"And I know the boys are close, so you could take one or both depending on how you feel."Sakura felt her eyes widen. "Or just marry them all, that could work too. Mostly in the past it's just been two spouses, but there have been a few that took three or four into the marriage. It's better for the kits that way."

Sakura couldn't keep her voice from cracking. "… _What_?"

The woman clapped her hands again, eyes bright and shocking blue in a way they hadn't been before. "You're tired from the long drive here though, so we'll get your room ready in the family suite. Karin, want to take Sakura's bags?"

"She doesn't have any."

"Poo. You'll have to share for the night then. You look to be almost the same size."

Sakura took one step backwards, robotically turned on her heel, and walked the rest of the way out, down the hall, past the front desk, to the parking lot and into her car. She didn't panic until her key was in the ignition, failing to turn the engine. Nothing responded, not even the lights.

Still stiff as a fawn, Sakura got out and popped the hood, realizing in horror that her car was empty. There was literally nothing under her hood. It had all been magicked away.

Sakura grabbed her purse from the front seat and started to walk down the driveway, back out to the main road. She walked for maybe fifteen minutes before realizing she was caught in another illusion. This time the spell was far stronger and Sakura felt herself rightly trapped. When she turned around Kushina was there and the pair of them were back in the parking lot outside the inn. The Uzumaki matriarch smiled kindly, as if she thought it was cute a human had tried to break the spell on an illusion cast by a matriarch.

"Lady," Sakura stated, voice cracking, "it's not going to work. Your kids all will hate me. I beat them up on our first meeting. They're going to resent that _forever_."

"I doubt that. You're perfect for this family. Karin will adore you for your seal work, it's not often someone can trap her or seal her fire with a hand drawn tag. And if you're worried about the boys, well…" She smiled to herself slyly. "I'm afraid your beating had the opposite effect of what you're claiming."

"No, I know what this is. You're just in it because you need a human with chakra in the bloodline. I've heard this story before. It's no different then how it was with the Uchiha, so you can drop the act."

Sakura might have imagianed it, but at the mention of the Tengu clan Sakura had tangled with in the past the bright blue of Kushina's eyes flickered red. Still, her smile never faltered.

"You don't have to worry about the Uchiha while you are here. You're safe."

"I'm not marrying your kids."

Her frown was more of a pout. "But you don't even know them! Don't you wanna get a little closer to my cuties before you make a decision?"

"Not really," Sakura laughed, feeling on the edge of hysterical. "I wanna go home and wear my 'worldly' lace pajamas, eat junk food like french fries, gummy bears, and ice cream, listen to a music player that doesn't use a needle, and watch Game of Thrones like any self respecting woman of the modern age. I'm not dressing up like a shrine maiden and cooking for a man for the rest of my life."

"You wouldn't have, we have plenty of servants for that sort of thing. We're actually quite modernized, you'll find. The boys read comics and Karin even has a Netflix account." The woman's smile stretched up. "Also, no one is going to complain if you want to wear naughty lingerie in this house."

"I'm not!" a voice called from back inside the inn. Sakura couldn't tell if it was Naruto or his brother Menma, but guessed it was one of them and it made her blush.

"Still, it's a marriage. I…I can't. You need my help expelling spirits I would be willing to hang out and help, but I can't… just marry into your family. Tsunade made a mistake. My name shouldn't have been in that will."

The woman seemed to wilt. "I understand if you're really that opposed to the idea, but please stay the week with us. Just seven days at the inn, complements of the family. Get to know the kids a little and then make your decision at the end of those seven days. That's fair, right?"

Sakura glanced up over the woman's shoulder and saw the three kids all standing in the entryway. Naruto was smiling brightly just like his mother while supporting his dark haired twin. Menma looked up and met her gaze, only to blush and duck his eyes. Behind them Karin watched wordless, masking her expression.

None of them looked dangerous, and the situation was vastly different then when the Uchiha had breached the subject with Kakashi. No one was demanding she make any dramatic life changes or give up anything important. They didn't sound like the type to force their way either, if Kushina really meant what she said about the seven days. There was really no way Sakura could break through the illusion on her own, so Kushina had all the power to demand more from her if she thought it necessary.

If she renegade on her deal after seven days Sakura would call Kakashi.

"I didn't pack for an overnight trip."

Kushina's eyes lit up along with her smile. "We have anything you could possibly need on hand. Just tell us what you need and our fox spirits will run and grab it for you."

Sakura let her purse slide off her shoulder to the crook of her elbow as she sighed and relented. "Fine. Seven days."

"Of course," the mother cheered, taking Sakura by the shoulders and leading her back into the inn building. "You're going to love it here, though. It's a life time of pampering you have to look forward to if you choose to make this your home."

Naruto and his brother were quick to clear the doorway for them, but Sakura didn't miss how they kept themselves close as Sakura was led on a tour of the estate. Karin watched critically and Sakura felt her every move recorded by the girl's mind.

"So we can call you Sakura chan, right, Sakura chan?" Naruto cheered, hopping alongside the group.

Sakura could only swallowed and nod as they led her around and set up her up in a room.

True to her word all the things she requested showed up in the hour thanks to the inn's fox spirits. She went to bed that night, not knowing how well she would sleep, but surprised how soft the futon was under her.

* * *

"Is it done?" Kushina asked, looking up at her husband with a soft smile as he entered their bedroom that night.

Minato frowned, stripping off his outer layers. "As best I could, but Kakashi is not any average human. He'll remember her before the month is up, and he won't be happy to know I suppressed his memories. Sakura is precious to him."

His wife waved a hand and rolled her eyes.

"He's not the only one who understands her value. And I don't need him to forget her forever, just long enough for Sakura to fall in love with one of the kits. Did you hear Naruto going on and on about her after dinner? Oh, you will. The boy is smitten if ever I saw it. He's almost as bad as Menma, but there's no saving _that_ child from the love bug. One punch and he was sold! I knew Sakura chan would be perfect for my boys."

"Oh, did you now?" Minatoa asked, sliding into bed beside his wife. "What about our lovely niece? What did she think of our house guest."

"Her nature is to be weary, but she's far too fascinated with Sakura to be safe for long. I hope it ends happy for all of them and no one gets their heart crushed, but it's just all my hopeful wishing."

Minato kissed his wife and turned off the lights. "We'll see in the next seven days, won't we?"

* * *

AN: These are all going to be oneshots based on what was asked of me on tumblr. The ask box is closed for the foreseeable future, but I may open up requests later on.

Original prompt list:

1\. "you died and left me your children, even though they're only a few years younger then me"

2\. "you died and left me a haunted house"

3\. "you died and left me an obscure magical object, I'm not sure what it does, and your instruction sheet just says 'have fun storming the castle!'"

4\. "you died and left me a fanatically loyal warrior order"

5\. "you died and left me a bunch of money and a pile of _really weird_ IOUs?! why did someone owe you a free body disposal. why did someone owe you two brides and a goat. why did someone owe you an island. WHY"

6\. "you died and left me to _repay_ a bunch of _really weird_ IOUs"

7\. "you died and left me a small country"

8\. "you died and left me six research labs that operate in international waters and I'm kind of scared to find out why keeping them out there was a stipulation of the will"

9\. "you died and left me a menagerie of animals that are supposed to be extinct? and some that aren't supposed to be _real?_ where did you get unicorns. where did you get gryphons. where did you get pegasi?"

10\. "you died and left me on the hook for a hereditary marriage contract"


	3. Kiri Boys & Beer

alyseb630 asked: For the inheritance ask! 7. "you died and left me a small country" Kisame and Zabuza and Kirigakure.

* * *

" In matters of inheritance in the land of Kirigkure, they were old and small enough to cultivate their practices leftover from the old days when they had to fight tooth and nail to protect what was once only a small fishing inlet. Their monarchy equivalent is selected from the previous ruler and approved by a majority vote from the three departments.

Sakura's fist made a cracking sound as it tore the sandbag off the hook again and sent it rolling across the gym floor.

"I know how their government works, I'm not stupid," Sakura muttered, walking over to retrieve the bag and inspect it for cracks. "Tsunade would have fried me alive if I didn't know that much after the first year. She was close with Mei, one of the three seats."

"The other two seats belong to Yagura and the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, a group. Funny story, Mei voted for you, Yagura voted against you, and the swordsmen were split so they voted 'present' but did not take a side. In this situation the tie breaker depends on the language of the will and the language of the will picked you."

Sakura dragged the punching bag back over and reached up to hook it to the dangling chain. "Yeah," she grunted. "I still don't see how that is supposed to explain how I got tangled up in this. I've messed around in Kiri only a few times and I know my old folks are originally from there, but I'm like an outsider, aren't I?"

Her hair was damp from the sweat and she could feel where it stuck to her as she paused to watch her old teacher flip through the pages of his paperback.

"Legally, no. Culturally, yes." He looked up from his book and met her eyes. "Regardless, you've been requested to go to the country and fulfill the terms of the last will and testament by accepting leadership."

Sakura didn't have the energy to keep up with what Kakashi was saying, but she did have enough frustration for another few swings at her punching bag. Kakashi opened his book again and waited until she punched the bag off the chain, this time splitting the front open so that some of the sang seeped out.

Cursing under her breath, she ran to recover it and keep the sand inside as best as possible. Kakashi followed her over and used the spine of his book to bop her on the head. She looked up with a pout.

"Just go and check them out. Get in a few fights, drink a little and show them how terrible of a leader you would really be. They'll kick you out soon enough and you'll be back home before you know it."

Sakura felt one of her eyebrows raise up. "Oh really, that your plan?"

"Better than breaking Guy's studio gym again. He'll not be happy you split another punching bag."

Sakura felt the color drain from her face. "Maybe I'll just take a quick vacation to check it out and see what it's like. I'll be back once he's forgotten about this."

Kakshi wasn't paying attention to her anymore, but was walking away and giggling to himself about something that happened in his novel.

Sakura reached for the duck-tape and repaired the sandbag as best she could before closing down for the night and heading home. There were tickets on the counter she had been ignoring that would need her attention.

* * *

Sakura thought it would be incredibly rude to carry a beer with her wherever she went, so that's what she did. It was only after she was in Kirigakure's common market place that she remembered one of the reasons why her parents didn't bring her to the public places when she was a child. Kiri was wet in more ways that one, and Sakura was far from being the only person nursing a drink as she toured the stalls in the market place.

She stopped in front of a colorful stall that sold replica swords and other collector weapons. Kiri was famous for her swordsmen, and the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist had been legends from eons ago. Now in the modern age the name was a title reserved for a handful of swordsmen. If Sakura was correct, there were actually only five swordsmen left, as two of the swords were lost to the ages.

There were shadows trailing her, no no one's surprise as she stepped into the little shop and smiled to the old woman behind the counter. She looked over the weapons, watching the blades for a reflection that would show her what she needed to know.

Two swords had been lost in the ages of history, but there were replicas on all seven inside the shop, as well as several other notable swords that gained names during the warring states period in history. She cringed when she noticed a few with imperfections, but tried to hide her distaste behind the neck of her beer.

"Brat, where you from to be making a face like that?" the younger shop hand snapped at her, sitting up from behind the counter. He was a little older than her and had a few scars across his face. Something felt off about him and with a curse she realized what it was. He was a plant.

"You treat all your customers like this?" Sakura sneered, not willing to be kind to one of the Kiri guard. He was too well shaped and had the signs of training were all over him. "No wonder it's dead."

"You wanna say that again you brat. What do you know?" He bared his teeth and Sakura saw the points where they had been filed. Yup, ANBU, just like Kakashi warned her of.

Ugh, wasn't Kiri trying to blend in to the modern era? If they were still stuck in the past using chakra so forwardly how would they ever improve? It irked sakura, especially since she knew the technology was crap in the land of water. There were still pay phones on the street corners. It was like stepping back in time and it made her feel…less herself.

"Wow, wow, wow," Sakura mocked, feeling even less inclined to entertain the undercover plant. "You like to bark, don't you. That's all you ever do here, you bark and bark and never use those teeth of yours for anything else."

"You're a twig. I'll break you in half."

Sakura tilted up her beer and finished it all in a long pull before pulling away. She marched over to where he stood behind his counter and held up a hand. "Just try it. You look like a misshaped ballon. I'll pop you like a toy."

He growled and then barked behind him towards the old woman in Mizu, the old language. "Mom, I'm beating up a customer. Watch the shop."

"Have fun!" the old woman chortled. "Keep the damage minimal."

Sakura followed him through the back and after a squeeze through the space between buildings there was a dip for the water to drain to that he walked down into. There was barely any water there now, and it looked like an open area between the backs of several high buildings.

"What is this?" Sakura snapped, already knowing she would be watched. If she beat him into the ground it could be a national incident. She could get deported.

Her nose twitched and she snarled, recognizing the light spell of a genjutsu. It had been ages since she last touched one. She realized it covered the man in front of her, and it was so light it was barely worth dispelling. His body mass was the same, but maybe the details of his face were a little different.

"This is how we welcome haughty travelers who waltz into Kiri with their nose up in the air and think they can take things that aren't theres from our hands." He turned and behind him a handful of faces appeared from the shadows.

"You gang up on a little old girl. Real noble, yeah?" Sakura mocked, feeling the genjutsu on her own yin seal flicker. She let it drop, not caring if they saw the purple rhombus.

"Don't worry sweetheart, it's just you and me. My friends are here to watch. They needed some convincing this was necessary."

Sakura licked her bottom lip where the taste of beer still lingered. She was starting to recognize what sort of situation she was in. "Then tell me, are you Yagura or one of the swordsmen?"

He let the genjutsu fall away and stood up, crossing his arms. His skin was a pale gray from what she could see, his lower face was covered in bandages leaving his short hair a little wild. Kakashi had shown her his photo before in his own Bingo book, back from the days when war between the hidden villages had been a silent but thriving thing. This guy was Demon of the Hidden Mist. No wonder he wanted to take her to a water drain. All his jutsu depended on moisture.

Forget about pummeling him. Sakura would be lucky if she got out alive.

Zabuza smiled through his mask of face wraps. Sakura could tell because it was the same way with Kakashi, always masked. "You know who I am," he guessed

"You're a relic of the past. What are you going to do without your Kubikiribōchō?"

Like the bit in a terrible comedy, the execution's blade sailed through the air and implanted in the ground beside Zabuza. His smiled turned manic. "This one?"

Sakura cursed Kakashi for bedtime stories where the demon of the mist killed a schoolroom of children for being bad. "Yeah, that one," Sakura weakly amended.

"Don't make a sour face. I won't touch it unless you have your own blade. You don't use a stake knife to cut through butter, do you?"

Sakura masked her fear with a show of courage. "Well, I didn't know I needed to pack for this. If I did I would have, but alas all I have are my fists to humble you with." He scoffed at her words.

"That's the trouble with Konohagakure, they're far too political with what they let children handle and adults carry. I've never seen a ninja village where ninja ways are so shamefully hidden. You didn't even come in wearing a Kuni strap."

"I needed somewhere to store my beer."

From the shadows Sakura heard a snicker and then some heavy coughing as someone tried to mask their laughter.

"Priorities," Zabuza mocked, crouching low. "Show me where they got you."

The mist rolled in and Sakura felt her fear spike when he stepped back and melted into it. It was what he was famous for, what he haunted bed time stories for. He could slaughter enemies before they saw him coming. He was perfectly hidden in the mist.

"Whatever," Sakura muttered before she too crouched down and pulled on her hardly used chakra.

It was almost sluggish, but she didn't have time for it to be slow, she she forced it to flow all through her, sending each of her nerves into high alert. She could feel the world around her, like a shark in the water, the skin on the back of her left arm tingled and she ducked before twisting into a roundhouse kick. At the last second she remembered to put some chakra into it, and watched as the crater opened up beneath them.

Yeah. She had to use her chakra. Almost forgot that important detail.

"What the hell was that?" a younger voice cried out from the sidelines.

"Zabuza eating his humble pie," another voice laughed.

"You didn't tell me she could use chakra! No one did."

"Learning experience. But really, do you think the Mizukage would leave this place to anyone else?"

Sakura backtracked to where his sword stuck out from the ground. She leaned on it and a small part of her delighted in the fact that she was actually touching the demon's blade. It was something her father told her stories about before she was Kakashi's. She wouldn't admit it out loud, but the Kubikiribōchō was her favorite.

It was surprising how the blade seemed to draw on her chakra. She let it have a taste and there was a warm feeling where her palm was. It was only her fear that kept her from drawing it herself. The swordsmen of the mist were bloodthirsty-honor be damed- if someone like an outsider touched their blade.

Oh, but it was so tempting.

Sakura ducked and rolled out of the way to avoid the throwing stars. A shower of needles trailed her to where she stopped from her roll. One stuck out of her arm, trailing blood. She climbed to her feet, grinning.

"You're back from the dead," she mocked.

"You're not as pathetic as you first looked."

"Really, I should have thought someone like you would know better than to underestimate his opponents." She batted her lashes playfully. "Or was I truly so disarming in appearance?"

She refused to chuckle or blush from the wolf whistles coming out of the shadows.

"I really want to cut you down now. Sure you don't have a blade?"

"No, remember, we talked about this? Beer?"

The water from the low points shifted and Sakura yelped, sucking out of the sharks in time. There was cheering from the shadows as she rolled and ran out of the way. It was only too late that she realized this was what Zabuza wanted of her. He was waiting where they corralled her with a windmill shuriken.

Sakura cursed sharply and punched the ground below her, sending a chunk of earth up underneath him and disrupting the entirety of the drainage dip. She had held back and knew the damage was nowhere near what it could have been, but the landscape was still unrecognizable.

Sakura jumped up high onto the tallest point and perched there, above the mist. Looking down it was as if the world below her was swallowed in clouds. In her free hand she sported the huge windmill shuriken he had tried to slice her with.

"You were right about how my village is tight ass about us sporting ninja shit. We're not allowed to wear any of our weapons visibly in the public places, so I made my body into one."

"You made your body a weapon?" he mocked, standing atop a shorter slab, still mostly in mist.

"Pick up your blade and I'll show you."

"You think that's going to be fair?" he mocked.

"Well, since I'm the one that drew first blood," she pointed to her head where blood tricked from her first roundhouse kick. "Yeah, I'd say so. You won't be able to defeat me without it."

It was only ten minutes, but it felt like forever as ever second was hyper analyzed and stretched. Sakura played more of a game of cat and mouse, destroying more of the field than doing any actual damage to the mizu nin. She noticed early on their were in some sort of bubble barrier that contained the destruction of her blasts.

She was nearly out of breath and felt like there was no gaining ground.

"Zabuza, stop playing around."

A new figure touched down alongside the older nin. He was shorter with pale ash blond hair and pink eyes. Sakura's sight zeroed in on the staff he sported. He was carrying a club with uneven sized hooks and a green flower on the larger end, implying skills in bōjutsu. This was likely one of the three seats, Yagura.

Sakura screamed inside her head, smiling tightly at the new arrival who seemed to radiate murder. In comparison to her, Zabuza didn't look nearly as winded.

"I haven't seen anything worth watching. If you can't bring yourself to strike down a little girl than I will help you."

"Yagura san, that is not-"

"I'm tired of waiting. Take my flank. Suigetsu, you too. I'm not wasting any more time." He looked up at her and his glare was meant to pin her in place. "Run now or be torn asunder. I'm not letting you touch that seat."

"I guess it's too late to say I really didn't want it in the first place," Sakura muttered, grimace growing darker the more she took in the nature of her situation. She was outmatched, outclassed, and trapped in a bubble dome. "What honor I see here."

Zazbuza seemed the only one to flinch at the accusation.

Yagura moved and she opened up her yin seal, feeling the cuts and bruises burn away as she dodged. Nothing wet was safe as the youngest of the three turned to water and assaulted her whenever she touched down. It was only a few seconds, but Sakura found herself trapped before she knew it.

Panicking, she looked up to see Zabuza's blade arch for her neck.

"Not nice, Zabuza san," a new voice grunted, blocking the blade with his own, heavily bandaged weapon. Sakura recognized both the man and the blade.

"You should have been incapacitated," Yagura droned from behind.

"Ah, not likely. You're all very silly. Don't you think it would be nice to take orders from such a cute little thing?"

Sakura couldn't help herself. She pointed at Yagura. "He's cute and little."

Kisame roared in laughter while Yagura blushed dangerously. "I am not cute!" He lunged for another attack and it was easier to parry with a stray kuni now that Zabuza wasn't chasing her down.

Sakura jumped for the highest point and reached for where the black lines covered her body. They had illuminated a number of seals. She used some of her old blood to swipe over one and in a cloud of white her weapon was summoned. She felt the arena still.

"Look at that, you made me show my hand. I really didn't want to do that," Sakura huffed, standing up with the massive Kabutowari in both hand, a sword consisting of a single-sided axe and a hammer joined by a length of chain. It was one of the two legendary swords said to have been lost to the ages. Actually it had just been a gift from the previous Mizukage, the one who wrote her into his damn will.

"Boss, thats's the…." Suigetsu's face appeared out of the water, eyes wide.

"Shut up, I know what it is," Yagura hissed, eyes flashing. "How did you get that?"

"The same stupid old man who wrote me into his will trained me in this, dumb ass," Sakura roared back before leaping and swinging.

The tides of battle swiftly turned. Sakura's seal was burning and nothing that did damage left a mark. Both she and Kisame were the two heavy hitters and both were battling back to back. Sakura knew every second counted and in any moment it could be her end, but she couldn't help but feel as elated as Kisame seemed, standing with his back to her as they parried and ducked and roared and destroyed. He seemed like he was having the time of his life.

Eventually, hours later, everyone was kneeling in exhaustion except Kisame, who was overjoyed and screaming at the sky and asking for more.

The bubble around them popped and a woman, tall and beautiful, with long red hair. "That's enough, really, boys." She glared at all of them, trailed by a young boy with blue hair and some sort of weapon on his back.

"You're beauty treatment finally finished?" Yagura mocked from where he knelt. "Took you long enough."

"I'll fry you up and eat you one of these days," Mei sneered before looking over at where Kisame, Zabuza, and the boy Suigetsu stood. "And you boys, what authority did you cite when attacking a fellow citizen? You have no just cause!"

"E-eh, she's a citizen?" Suigesu stammered. "I thought that was only for-"

"Sakura was born here, I should know, I helped deliver her." Mei's eyes sparkled as she looked over the girl, dirty and breathing heavy, but uninjured. "You've grown up so much, darling. I'm so glad to see you again. Pictures aren't the same."

Sakura knew who the woman was through reputation, but the fact that she was a family friend was new. Weakly she waved, leaning back on the hammer part of her weapon. "Yo."

Mei blushed happily and clapped her hands. "You were spectacular. I loved watching from the rooftops, but I'm sorry to say that Utakata is at his limit and can't keep the bubble up for another two hours. Poor boy is sickly as it is." She sighed, holding te side of her face before looking over the mess of swordsmen and women. "Let's call it a draw and show Sakura to her room. She has an appointment at the hospital with the head chief of medicine I'm looking forward to eavesdropping on."

* * *

It was just like what Mei said. The next morning, though she was tense and ready for another surprise attack, she was escorted to the local hospital and shown around. Her mood soured as soon as she saw the builded and continued to curdle as she moved through it. It had equipment, and it was fairly high tec compared to what she was expecting, but it was sourly understaffed and in terrible shape.

"For a ninja village you don't have a chakra squad of healers?" Sakura asked, trying to keep her distaste out of her tone.

The head of the medical facility was an older man and it was clear he didn't appreciate her no matter what she said or how she said it. He was old fashioned through and through.

"Aside from myself there are two others, but chakra is only used on the shinobi force. Civilians are treated with civilian methods."

And there it is, the notorious caste system. Sakura was at her limit and suddenly didn't feel like caring if she stepped over into what was rude.

"I'm commandeering the reacher labs. You wanna stop me, call someone who can."

No one stopped her.

In a week no one dared try. She was aggressive, pushing her way into operation rooms that had only the worst survival rate and ensuring that not a single person under her hands died. The head of medicine seemed to hate her, but oddly enough stayed out of her way. If she wanted something, no one stopped her. The other two chakra nurses seemed to take a shine to her and before the week was over both were worshiping the ground she walked on.

The rest of the hospital soon followed.

No one talked to her about her inheritance, but she knew that there were shadows tailing her wherever she went, and that the matter still had a month left for deliberation. She had hoped to be gone as soon as they found someone else for the job, whenever that was.

It was another slow day when someone interrupted her in the lab with a look that told her to scrub up without words.

"What is it?" Sakura asked, already moving.

"It was another Kaguya clan assault. Multiple lacerations."

"Shinobi," Sakura guessed, stepping into the new room where her sink waited. The nurse helped her, conveying even more details.

"It's not too bad, but he's hard to operate on."

Sakura didn't ask why, but stepped into the room, already masked and saw the answer for herself. Even knocked out, Zazbuza was rolling off the killing intent as a self defense mechanism that several ANBU were trained with. It kept them safe when they fell in battle, but in a hospital room, all it did was stun the staff.

"He twitches I'll castrate him, back to your places," Sakura growled to the other nurses assisting. And just like that the aura dulled and no one seemed caught in it anymore.

An operation that should have taken eighteen to twenty hours, removing bone fragments that metal detectors couldn't detect, took Sakura only thirteen. She was frustrated at her time though, remembering her mentor who could do the same in maybe twelve hours. She still had a ways to go.

"Someone close him up, we're done here."

She didn't go home after that, but found a cot in the lab to pass out on.

In the morning when she roused she knew she needed to clean, so she washed and changed into some fresh scrubs using one of the sanitation stations in the lab. Her hair was still wet when a knock came to her door. The person didn't wait for her to answer but stepped in anyway.

"Hey!" Kisame greeted, grin wide and flashing. "I heard you saved that bastard's life. Wanna have a drink with me over his body?"

"Won't that just piss him off?" Sakura guessed, eyeing the jug of sake that was large enough for a party of people.

"Yeah, it sure will," Kisame laughed.

Sakura eyed the stacked sake glasses in his other hand and grinned. "Why not?"

He walked with her, scaring off anyone else in the hallway with just the sight of him. Several nurses ducked into rooms and peaked out, watching Sakura trail alongside him, worry evident on their faces.

"You do something to make them scared as sheep or what?" Sakura asked, grinning up at the blue man who smiled like a shark.

"What makes you think that?" When Sakura made a face of disappointment he chuckled and went on, "Ah, I may have made a scene once or twice when enemy nin were being treated for injuries. I'm not allowed in here unless I get special permission. I'm supposed to be visiting Zabuza, my best buddy ever, but I really just wanted to see you. You've been hiding here this whole time."

"I've been working here this whole time, which is why Zabuza is still alive. Those bone shards might have pierced his spine if not properly removed. Why don't you look like a pincushion?"

"I wasn't there. It was just Zabuza. But he's fine, I'm sure he's lived through worst. Here we are, this his room right?"

Sakura nodded, sliding open the door. The man on the bed was still asleep so the pair of them pulled up chairs and drank alongside his bed. Kisame asked her a bunch of questions, most of which she refused to answer or ignored until he poured her more of his sake. It was some of the good stuff, she could tell.

"Why did you decide to help me back then?" she asked, sipping from her drink. "You were one of the swordsmen who actually approved of me, I heard. Why?"

"That's two different questions, princess." He poured another cup for himself and knocked it back. "I wanted a good fight and you were a good fighting partner. I'm partial to the heavy hitters, you know. I've no skill for elaborate jutsu fireworks. I just like to hit stuff and you hit stuff hard."

"And the other question?"

His cheeks flushed darker. "Ah, well, it's like I said back then. It would be nice to take orders from a cute little girl for once, yeah? The others are far too traditional for my tastes. Do what you want, that's what I think."

"Cheers to that," Sakura laughed, knocking back another cup.

More than half the sake was gone, an impressive amount by any standard. It made the blue man's tongue a little loose as he watched her. "And you're cute."

"I know." She grinned at him and he flushed even more.

"Like really cute." He started to lean more to one side, watching her intently. Most of the sake was gone. "You have a boyfriend yet?"

Sakura laughed, not caring how she sounded anymore. From the bed, Zabuza stirred. Cracking open an eye he saw the pair of them drinking and his killing aura returned as he glared at the sake.

"You're drinking over my almost dead body?" he hissed, sounding like a shadow of his former self. He was still pale.

"Cheers," Sakura lifted her cup. "You're alive. Why wouldn't we celebrate?"

"Hn," He started to pull himself up, glaring at Kisame now. "Did she try to kill me while I slept?"

Kisame snorted, grin growing wide. "She's the one that preformed the surgery. As I understand it, you're recovering so well because of her skill. You should say thank you. She saved your life."

"I don't believe you."

"I don't care," Sakura interjected, reaching for more sake. "Believe what you want, it's no skin off my back."

Kisame kicked the side of the bed. "Really, what is with this guy. He tries to kill you first chance he gets and can't even say thank you when you save his life. Not like you needed to. I might have left him to die if I were you."

"Good thing you're not," Sakura easily answered. "But, it's good that you're awake so soon. You'll be out of here in a few days and back to work." She pointed to the wall behind him. "I had them bring in your Kubikiribōchō and put it in here myself so it would be close when you woke up. I suspected it might make the recovery easier."

"Who-" Zabuza turned to see his sword and sat up further. "Who brought it here?"

Sakura shrugged. "I set it up in here, but I don't know who else dragged it off the battlefield. In was in the OR when I walked in. It made Kabutowari san jealous and now he's giving me the silent treatment." She ended with a pout.

"Eh?" Kisame cheered, leaning in to her side. "What did he say to you that makes you think he's jealous?"

"It's that he didn't say anything that's how I know," Sakura said. "He knows me too well by now. He even warned me during our fight not to touch your sword when I had the chance, before you even drew it. Ah, but I wanted to. It's not fair, the all of you get to train with each other and trade off. It's a good relationship."

"You sound like you have a good relationship with your Kabutowari," Kisame teased. "I'd get jealous too if I had to share."

Zabuza watched the both of them with a glare but reached over to touch his blade's handle. He got a sense of it and realized that all Sakura had said was true. It kept asking for Kabutowari's maid.

"Oi," Zabuza interjected. Sakura had her cup to her lips, but paused at his voice. "I'll thank you for this, but just this one time."

Sakura smiled over the rim of her cup. She extended it to him with a smile, nodding for him to take it and drink. She missed the way Kisame glared but not the way Zabuza seemed to soften. His glare wasn't as sharp. Hesitantly, he took her cup and sipped from it before throwing it back and swallowing all the sake whole.

"No fair, Sakura chan," Kisame whined, pushing his cup into her hand. "Share your drink with me too."

"Of course," Sakura cheered. "You're m first ally after all."

"M-m-myeah," he mumbled, sinking in his seat with a fresh blush as he watched her drink from his cup. He caught his breath when she held it out to him, empty again.

"Another?"

* * *

Yagura grumbled to himself, swinging his legs over the side of his high chair at the bar. He normally hated the bar for this exact reason, but no one was going to call him a child or childlike today with how much killing aura he was soaked in.

"You're just like a pouting child," Mei laughed, sliding onto a stool beside him.

"I'll kill you," he hisses, pink eyes flashing.

Mei smiled knowingly. "Is it your hold on the swordsmen that has you so upset, or something else? I just saw Zabuza san heading back from the hospital. It looked like he got there before Kisame to have lunch with her again."

"They're both useless."

"Yeah, I guess it is sort of hard to go in and apologize when there are others watching," Mei teased, reaching over to poke the stem of his bouquet of flowers. "You could just order them away for the day."

"It's not just them!" Yagura blurted out, yanking the flowers away from her. "It's _all_ of them, even the stupid hunter nin that hangs on Zabuza. I thought he would get jealous but he's in there training with her now for that new feld medic class she's teaching and like all the other stupid nurses he's too damn star struck at the sight of her. There's always someone in the hospital now. It's impossible."

"You still going to oppose her inheritance?"

Yagura glared at her in a knowing way. "Not even the elders are opposed to it anymore. She's developed a line of medications that are bringing in a wealth of finances she's using to develop the slums. She's not even initiated and already she's fixing the place up. It doesn't even matter at this point."

"Yeah, I can see now the reason she was chosen for this. I always knew she would be great for the job, but to actually see it is something else. She's fantastic and just what this dying country needed." Mei smirked and ordered a shot from the bartender for herself and the other department head. "I'm nominating my boy Chōjūrō to be her right hand. He's nervous, but I think it would be good for him to grow closer to our next leader sooner rather than later."

"That's gonna be a bloodbath," Yagura predicted, already envisioning the onslaught of all the swordsmen and their apprentices fighting for the right. He reached for the new shot and downed it in one gulp. "My money is either on Kisame or Zabuza. The two of them…well, when it comes to her they're both something else."

* * *

AN: These are all going to be oneshots based on what was asked of me on tumblr. The ask box is closed for the foreseeable future, but I may open up requests later on.

Original prompt list:

 _1\. "you died and left me your children, even though they're only a few years younger then me"_

2\. "you died and left me a haunted house"

3\. "you died and left me an obscure magical object, I'm not sure what it does, and your instruction sheet just says 'have fun storming the castle!'"

4\. "you died and left me a fanatically loyal warrior order"

5\. "you died and left me a bunch of money and a pile of _really weird_ IOUs?! why did someone owe you a free body disposal. why did someone owe you two brides and a goat. why did someone owe you an island. WHY"

6\. "you died and left me to _repay_ a bunch of _really weird_ IOUs"

 _7\. "you died and left me a small country"_

8\. "you died and left me six research labs that operate in international waters and I'm kind of scared to find out why keeping them out there was a stipulation of the will"

9\. "you died and left me a menagerie of animals that are supposed to be extinct? and some that aren't supposed to be _real?_ where did you get unicorns. where did you get gryphons. where did you get pegasi?"

 _10\. "you died and left me on the hook for a hereditary marriage contract"_


	4. Clan Haruno

-flailing- NUMBER 4 FOR THE INHERITANCE PROMPTS WITH SAKURA AND A MEDIEVAL FANTASY AU

* * *

The castle would have been impressive back in it's day, but half a century later it's little more than an impressive ruin. The landscape is dotted with them, but this ruin is special.

"This would have been yours if the Haruno rule survived," her father complained, more melodramatic than necessary.

"You've never told me that before," Sakura teased, grinning up at her father.

He glares down at her front the second floor through the gap in the floor caused by decades of erosion and the natural elements wrecking their usual havoc. "Don't be smart with me."

"I have to be smart, otherwise this draft doesn't get done. I've been dragging my feet on this reconstruction thesis for weeks now."

Her father sat down on the edge of the hole and rested his hands on his knees. "And so you think the smartest thing to do is sleep over inside this drafty castle?"

"It saves me a two hour drive in the morning. Besides, you were the one who got me hooked on camping so you really shouldn't be complaining."

"Camping is one thing, but you're sleeping in a haunted castle miles from the nearest cell phone signal."

Sakura paused in her sketch and grinned up at her father, smile wicked the way only a child's smile could be. "Perfect."

Like half the country, if Sakura followed her ancestry back far enough and stretched it just a little, she could connect herself to a ruling family from the dark ages. Her family was just a bit more eccentric about this legacy all throughout her childhood. She knew more than the average kid when it came to ancient clans, blood fudes, and local legends.

She had been cited as a source for several papers and publications detailing local legends. Some of her favorite stories had to do with the cultish knight order the Haruno were feared and persecuted for.

That was a story she kept to herself, not because she was embarassed or afraid of the backlash, but because it was hers. Those tales belonged to her and she didn't want to share them with anyone else.

Sakura made her camp in the lower levels of the castle, best protected by the wind and elements. It was dark with only a shattering of moonlight making its way down to her camp, but Sakura had her own lights to work by.

She flipped open her sketch pad and went to the pages with the armor details. She felt her heart pang for that far off time that lived only in her heart. That was the time she dreamed of most often. She had vivid night dreams about her family legacy and their order of knights, their battles, their struggles, their consumption to black magic, and all the other fun bits in between.

There was a pocket of her journal filled with her notes on the men who made up this order all based off her dreams and further supported with research and investigation. So much had been lost to history, but there were a few accounts to go off.

Sakura turned her light down, getting ready for sleep before looking up at the room around her and then the ring on her middle finger with the Haruno sigil. This might have all been hers in a different time, but for now she was just fine with her dreams.

She didn't stir even as the moonlight drifted up over her face, her neck, her arm, her hand and fingers. It took the rumblings and the cracking of earth to rouse her from her sleeping bag.

The noise shot her awake and send her bolting for the clearing in the middle of the skid to a stop, gasping as the walls around her were solid once more, richly decorated and vibrant with the lack of age.

Moonlight made the world around her bright, but it was the holes in the wall, fixing themselves one stone at a time, that made her disbelieve her eyes. Magic?

'You're dreaming,' she told herself, evan as the ground shifted again and sent her smacking into the a newly righted floor. Her jaw throbbed and she held it.

"Not a dream."

She rolled onto her back and screamed, bringing her hands up to brace for the downwards strike of the raised blade. It stared to come down and she instead rolled out of the way and clawed at the new floor, trying to get upright. Someone was behind her, grabbing her by her hair and yanking her back. She screamed, regretting her decision to camp alone so hard and so fast it made her tear up. She felt her eyes water as she struggled in the hold. Her hand moved on its own, grabbing her switchblade and twisting to stab at the hand that held her. It clanged, metal on metal and another hand reached to grab her blade.

Sakura cut through her hair and rolled free, popping up with more adrenaline than she knew what to do with.

"Hold, man!" a bellowing voice boomed from elsewhere.

Sakura saw there were two slender knights in armor, one of which stood atop the mess of freshly cut hair. A third was coming into the room and there were even more behind him. The one at the head sounded older.

"Who are you?" Sakura hissed, holding up her knife. She felt her heart pound like a hammer. She was way outnumbered now and she thought she might really be killed by a bunch of freaks in a magical castle on her own. What a way to go.

"State your own name, wench," the one atop her cut hair sneered, reaching for the hilt of his sword as the one opposite held his already drawn weapon up.

"I asked you first," Sakura yelled, backing up. "You're trespassing here."

"There's no need to name ourselves to a woman who dresses like a man," the one with his sword already drawn almost stated. His voice made Sakura's hackles rise. Forget about surviving, she wanted to mess that one up…and the one that made her cut her hair. She was upset about that.

"Hold you sword, remember yourself. You stand before a lady." The oldest barked before reaching for his helmet.

Sakura braced, not knowing what to expect. Something in the pit of her stomach sunk deep as she recognized him from an impossible dream.

"Kakashi?"

The other knights stiffened.

The man with silver hair and a scar closing one of his eyes smiled through the bottom part of his face mask, worn underneath the helmet. His had been tugged up to cover his mouth and nose, unlike the others that slipped under the chin. Still, she could tell he was smiling. His whole face softened. "It's been a while since I've heard such a familiar name. You know me, yet I know nothing of you."

"S-Sakura. I…" She looked behind her and saw her sketchbook laying close by from when she tried to run out with it earlier. She reached for it and flipped to the page with his sketch. It wasn't perfect, she wasn't skilled with human faces since most of her work was landscape work, but it looked like him. "I've seen you before."

Some of the knights behind him stirred.

"And where did we meet, my lady?" he was staring at the rest of the page where Sasuke was sketched as well.

Sakura felt her face flush, not willing to admit she saw them in her dreams. "Just…around. You're old though, like from hundreds of years ago. You shouldn't be alive right now."

"We exist outside of time, sleeping and waking on the call of the Haruno. This does not concern us, but we must find our Haruno. Do you know of who we speak?"

Sakura still felt embarassed. Kakashi was speaking to her and he sounded so kind and soft, not like how she expected him to sound. Wasn't he sort of an ass to the other knights when training them? "P-probably my dad? He's a Haruno."

She glanced sideways at the walls that just finished settling into place and looked up to see Kakashi right in her face, close enough to make her want to lean back. He grabbed at her hand and she felt her heart skip from the contact, but he turned her wrist over and his eye widened at the gold ring with the family crest perfectly displayed.

It had been her birthday gift when she turned seventeen over five years ago. Her father joked about it meaning she was in charge of the family, but now she wasn't so sure. Even if it was just her and her dad, the ring felt heavier now.

"You are the matriarch," Kakashi breathed, meeting her eyes with an expression of awe.

Sakura heard the sword clang to the stone floor and behind him, the knights each sank low into a kneel, heads bowed as their helmets came off, one by one. Sakura recognized each of them, Sasuke, Sai, Itachi the black plate knight, Shisui the marble born, and Yamato the green knight, saved from the fay wilds with Haruno magic. They were real and they were in front of her.

"Most esteemed lady," Kakashi breathed, bending low over her hand and kissing her ring. "We are honored to be in your light. Let our service be your breathing."

"Wh-what?" Sakura gasped, a bit thrown off by all this.

"We are yours to command."

* * *

AN: These are all going to be oneshots based on what was asked of me on tumblr. The ask box is closed for the foreseeable future, but I may open up requests later on.

Original prompt list:

 _1\. "you died and left me your children, even though they're only a few years younger then me"_

2\. "you died and left me a haunted house"

3\. "you died and left me an obscure magical object, I'm not sure what it does, and your instruction sheet just says 'have fun storming the castle!'"

4\. "you died and left me a fanatically loyal warrior order"

5\. "you _died and left me a bunch of money and a pile of really weird IOUs?! why did someone owe you a free body disposal. why did someone owe you two brides and a goat. why did someone owe you an island. WHY"_

6\. "you died and left me to _repay_ a bunch of _really weird_ IOUs"

 _7\. "you died and left me a small country"_

8\. "you died and left me six research labs that operate in international waters and I'm kind of scared to find out why keeping them out there was a stipulation of the will"

9\. "you died and left me a menagerie of animals that are supposed to be extinct? and some that aren't supposed to be _real?_ where did you get unicorns. where did you get gryphons. where did you get pegasi?"

 _10\. "you died and left me on the hook for a hereditary marriage contract"_


	5. International Waters

-8. "you died and left me six research labs that operate in international waters and I'm kind of scared to find out why keeping them out there was a stipulation of the will" Sound/Orochimaru for the inheritance ask!

* * *

"Why he left these to me I will never understand," Sakura sighed, pulling out another energy wire that sparked and hissed. The rubber protected her, but Sakura still flinched back as the energy died down and the cell doors powered off.

Pushing up off the ground, Sakura climbed to her feet with the help of Kabuto, Orochimaru's former right hand man. He held her hand a bit longer than needed, watching her brush the dust off a bit too keenly.

"Th-thanks," Sakura stuttered, still not used to the creepy way he seemed too willing to help her inherit the old man's property. She thought he would be upset with her and try to kill her for it or something, but he had been nothing but overtly pleasant with her from day one.

"Of course, if you need a hand I'm right here."

Sakura awkwardly tugged her hand free and smiled tightly. "Mmhum."

She backed away and moved to the door that was no longer electronically locked. It was still heavy, but she was a heavyweight lifter, so this wasn't something she was worried about. The door slid open on a grin and Sakura worked really hard to pretend she didn't hear Kabuto sighing like a love struck disney princess behind her.

He was really creeping her out.

"So," she began, "This was the only one of his labs that still consumed power from a power source. What about the other five?"

"All inferior work spaces. It was to his benefit to build anew and move on. The others are wrecks we can visit later, of course."

"We'll have to," Sakura grumbled, pinning the door back to keep it open. "But not today."

The pair walked down the hallway and Sakura took note of the layout well enough that the blueprint Kabuto had shown her matched perfectly. She had asked for the builder's blueprints after he showed her the owners set and he had seemed so pleased with her request even though that meant she found out about all the 'concealed' compartments originally hidden. He didn't seem upset with her at all….ever.

"What are those?" Sakura asked on a choked gasp, seeing several different tanks lit up with glowing bodies. No, the bodies weren't glowing, but there were lights in the water.

"Your inheritance. This is project Oto."

Sakura staggered closer to the nearest tank and saw a pale boy, white hair, thin skin. "What have you done to them?"

"They're lab experiments. Remember your cell regeneration thesis? This is the next step. The old man wouldn't have been able to go much further with his way of thinking, but you are the future."

Sakura turned stiffly and backed up against a tank were a red haired girl floated. Kabuto advanced on her and reached for a lock of her hair. He brushed it almost reverently.

"You are the master here now."

* * *

AN: As you knon, these are from tumblr and are supposed to be short-like this one. Im bad at writing short, but I try. These are all going to be oneshots based on what was asked of me on tumblr. The ask box is closed for the foreseeable future, but I may open up requests later on.

Original prompt list:

 _1\. "you died and left me your children, even though they're only a few years younger then me"_

2\. "you died and left me a haunted house"

3\. "you died and left me an obscure magical object, I'm not sure what it does, and your instruction sheet just says 'have fun storming the castle!'"

4\. _"you died and left me a fanatically loyal warrior order"_

5\. "you _died and left me a bunch of money and a pile of really weird IOUs?! why did someone owe you a free body disposal. why did someone owe you two brides and a goat. why did someone owe you an island. WHY"_

6\. "you died and left me to _repay_ a bunch of _really weird_ IOUs"

 _7\. "you died and left me a small country"_

8 _. "you died and left me six research labs that operate in international waters and I'm kind of scared to find out why keeping them out there was a stipulation of the will"_

9\. "you died and left me a menagerie of animals that are supposed to be extinct? and some that aren't supposed to be real? where did you get unicorns. where did you get gryphons. where did you get pegasi?"

 _10\. "you died and left me on the hook for a hereditary marriage contract"_


	6. Root Op

-5. "you died and left me a bunch of money and a pile of _really weird_ IOUs?! why did someone owe you a free body disposal. why did someone owe you two brides and a goat. why did someone owe you an island. WHY"

* * *

"Old man was into some shiiiiiiit," Sakura sang, feeling her panic rise as she dug through more of the things left in Danzo's office.

She had grown close to the man late in his life, after he had scared off all the other doctors and nurses in the retirement home. She had been the only one he couldn't bully and that seemed to make her his favorite.

"Why he even wrote me into his will is beyond me," she groaned.

She had been gifted a filing cabinet and a strongbox. Apparently, the rest of his property had been destroyed and this was all that was left of his 'life's work.'

Sakura pulled out another folder and reached in to feel for what it contained. There were a few keys, some other random papers, and another chuck of 100 dollar bills. She had maybe twenty thousand dollars just from the three quarters of the cabinet she searched. She was hopeful there would be more, but was more concerned with the odd stuff she found.

"Danzo, Danzo, Danzo," she sighed, shaking her head. "You died and left me a bunch of money and a pile of _really weird_ IOUs. Why did someone owe you a free body disposal, why did someone owe you two brides and a goat, why did someone owe you an island?"

Sakura picked up a paper and read it in more detail. "What the hell is a body servant?" Sakura asked out loud, picking up the phone and dialing the number at the bottom. She had called in a few of these number and had memorized her opening remarks by now.

'Hello, my name is Sakura Haruno and I am in possession of some of the late Danzo's effects and I would like to know what this thing meant?'

A lot of them were dead ends or the answers were more disturbing than the questions.

"What is the number of at the bottom of the receipt?" the woman asked in an odd monotone voice. She sounded more like a machine than a woman.

Sakura read off the number and waited. After a few clicks she heard something like a gun going off.

"Haruno?"

Sakura blinked back to attention. "Yes?"

"Your receipt is good for one Sai and one Tenzin, but we recommend a name change for Tenzin to Yamato as is customary after transfer to a new owner."

"O-Owner?" Sakura echoed, feeling a little more odd than she had before the gunshot. It sounded like she was buying hookers. "I'm not…."

"Thank you for your business, please expect a delivery in the next two to three business days."

Sakura felt herself falling over her words. "Wait, no, I don't want any sex slaves-I mean body slaves-I mean a-ugh body servants."

"Only Sai is trained in sexual tactics, but once Tenzin goes through reconditioning that is also an option. If you want to upgrade now that would be an additional five thousand and an extra three to six weeks wait time."

"No-no, no, no, not that, please, no thank you!"

"Thank you for that clarification, we appreciate your business, please expect a delivery in the next two to three business days." There was click as the line went dead.

Sakura felt a hammer in her heart beat. Her phone started to beep and she moved to turn it off, stunned after a three minute conversation that included her buying human slaves?

"Well, they never asked for an address, so this has nothing to do with me."

Three days later.

They apparently had her address and apparently it had _everything_ to do with her.

* * *

AN: As you knon, these are from tumblr and are supposed to be short-like this one. Im bad at writing short, but I try. These are all going to be oneshots based on what was asked of me on tumblr. The ask box is closed for the foreseeable future, but I may open up requests later on.

Original prompt list:

 _1\. "you died and left me your children, even though they're only a few years younger then me"_

2\. "you died and left me a haunted house"

3\. "you died and left me an obscure magical object, I'm not sure what it does, and your instruction sheet just says 'have fun storming the castle!'"

4\. _"you died and left me a fanatically loyal warrior order"_

5\. "you _died and left me a bunch of money and a pile of really weird IOUs?! why did someone owe you a free body disposal. why did someone owe you two brides and a goat. why did someone owe you an island. WHY"_

6\. "you died and left me to _repay_ a bunch of _really weird_ IOUs"

 _7\. "you died and left me a small country"_

8 _. "you died and left me six research labs that operate in international waters and I'm kind of scared to find out why keeping them out there was a stipulation of the will"_

9\. "you died and left me a menagerie of animals that are supposed to be extinct? and some that aren't supposed to be real? where did you get unicorns. where did you get gryphons. where did you get pegasi?"

 _10\. "you died and left me on the hook for a hereditary marriage contract"_


	7. Actor AU

Bonus to the Inheritance Promt list  
 **Prompt** : Actor AU, everyone is actors for the show Naruto. Sakura's actor has a secret bf and everyone's trying to figure out who?

* * *

Sakura smiled bashfully up at Sasuke, snuggling closer to his side as the children around them screamed and yelled enough to be funny.

"And cut!" The camera pulled away. "That's a wrap, send it to print!"

Sakura exhaled, stepping away from Sasuke and rubbing her face. The make up came off in her hands but it was the end of the day and she didn't need it anymore. And besides, it's not like there weren't layers of it on her. No one would notice.

"You did well, Sakura." She looked up to see Sasuke still hadn't gone back to his dressing room as per usual. He had a bad habit of lingering when it was just the two of them.

"You didn't do too bad yourself," she answer in an easy grin.

When she took a step off the set he followed. "You give any thought about the extension they're pitching to the studio. They wanted to keep all the original actors from the Borito shorts."

Sakura frowned, knowing she had been discreet about how much she disliked her most recent work. She wasn't the type of person to leave one job until she knew she had another lined up, but it was getting harder and harder to find work that didn't typecast her as the annoying, love sick female with a temper. The Borito movie just made it worse, but work was hard to come by.

"Did you hear how long it would be for?"

"Four to six seasons."

Sakura shut her eyes and whimpered. There was no way she could do it, not after her character had been so mishandled by the writers.

"I don't know, it'll have to be something we talk over. My boyfriend wants me to move overseas with him and take a break from work."

She hadn't noticed Sasuke stopped walking until she was at the snack table and there was no one for her to hand the extra plate off to. She blinked, looking around and finding Sasuke exactly where she left him.

"Sasuke?" She narrowed her eyes in his direction. "You okay?"

He coughed into his hand and crossed the rest of the way to stand beside her. "Y-yeah. No, um…you never mentioned a boyfriend. How long have you been together?"

"It's long distance, but for about six months now."

"Only six months and he wants you to move overseas with him? Sounds like a hotshot. Do I know him?"

Sakura shrugged, picking up a set of tongues and using them to pile the noodles on her plate. A year ago she wouldn't have dared eat whatever she wanted, but she was saying to hell with a diet that only landed her in the damsel role. When Sasuke didn't take the tongues from her she realized he was still waiting on an answer.

"I'm not sure. You probably don't, sorry," she answered with a flush.

"Hn."

* * *

Later that evening Sasuke had managed to wrangle Neji and Naruto into his dressing room, the former of which was pissed off at having been called from the neighboring set where he was filming a period drama. Kakashi and Sai were on their way and bringing snacks.

"What's this about, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, hands behind his head."You sounded more pissed than usual. I thought you had a cute filming scene with Sakura today, those always put you in a good mood."

Neji glowered from where he sat, while Sasuke just flushed angrily. "Shut up, you idiot. I do not-it doesn't. Ugh, that's not what I wanted to talk about."

"Are they bringing me back as a ghost for the new series, otherwise I'm out of here," Neji sighed, staring down at his fingernails that had been expertly polished and buffed.

"Sakura's seeing someone."

"What?!" from the doorway Kakashi dropped his bag of snacks as a look of horror overtook his unmasked face. Beside him Sai looked angry.

"What the hell did you just say?" Sai asked through a sneer as he looked over the group.

"Who is it?" Neji demanded, leaning forward. This was more important than his nails.

"She wouldn't tell me. She said I wouldn't know who he was but I think she was covering for him. He lives overseas."

"How long has my baby been compromised?" Kakashi asked in a whine.

Sasuke winced. "Six months."

Sai cursed loudly and kicked something before shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his black straight leg jeans. He glared at the floor where the extra chair had fallen. "How the hell did you let this happen?" he seethed. "You were with her the whole time thanks to the new writer. You were supposed to watch over her."

"Wait, new writer? Is that the chick you were shamelessly flirting with in the trailer park last week?" Naruto asked.

"She liked the romance angle I was leaning towards," Sasuke grumbled. "And I wasn't flirting. I wouldn't do that to Sakura."

"You're not an item," Neji huffed, rolling his eyes. "Reality and fiction are two different things. Get it right."

Sasuke sneered, stomping down his bitter remarks for the killed off actor who always seemed closer with Sakura off set. It had been the whole reason Sasuke suggested Neji's tragic sacrifice last season.

"Point is, we need to figure out who this guy is. Where were we shooting six months ago? We were on location in Whales, weren't we?" Sasuke looked up at Kakashi and Sai. "Do you remember her going anywhere, seeing anyone?"

Kakashi looked like he was internally panicking while Sai just seethed more and more as he pressed himself into a corner to kick at the molding. He had been in a dark phase since the Borito short started up.

Naruto snapped his fingers. "Wait, maybe it was before then. You know we were shooting Borito in Whales but before that we were all on vacation. Sakura had photos on her website of places she visited."

"That narrows it down," Neji huffed. "She did the whole Europe tour. She could have met someone anywhere."

A loud thunk made all the males look up and over at where Sai was banging his head into the wall repeatedly.

Naruto frowned. "Um, Sai, you're not supposed to damage your face. That's not good for you."

Sai just kept banging his head against the wall. Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Leave him be, it's not like he has a significant role other than Ino's arm candy anytime soon."

The banging got louder and Kakashi had to reach over and pull the boy away from the wall with no little struggling. "Sai, hun, are you crying?" the older man asked.

"No," Sai sniffled. "I just have plaster in my eye. Don't look at me."

Neji stood, brushing the wrinkles out of his French Military style jacket. "You ladies may amuse yourself however you see fit. I'm employing the aid of my sisters to see what they can dig up. I'll expect to be kept informed if any of you uncover anything more."

"Ah, and I'll ask Gaara. I think the two of them still keep in touch," Naruto offered.

Kakashi was still rubbing circles into Sai's back. "I'll see what I can dig up with her agent. He's an old friend of Obito's so I have a connection."

Sasuke nodded, looking to Sai who was still smearing tears across his face. Wincing, Sasuke decided the emotionally unstable actor was more trouble than he was worth and didn't press him for help.

"Fine, this is a top priority. I want a name ASAP."

* * *

"Wait?" Karin was coughing over the side of her wrist while also trying to hide her smile. "You didn't even make up a name?"

"I was blindsided, okay!" Sakura hissed. "I couldn't think of anything and then Sasuke kept asking for details. Help me."

Karin laughed. "Oh no, this is your own hole. You can dig yourself out of it. Why don't you just say you broke up or something. They'll stop pestering you after that."

"Then they'll pester me more about other things. I can't do another season, Karin, I can't. It's insulting what they've done with my character."

Karin snorted. "Welcome to the club. Oh, but I did find out those details you wanted about the Pirate drama you were interested in. You want it?"

Sakura nodded, taking the information packet from her friend and feeling only slightly better.

* * *

AN: Wouldn't things be better if they were all just actors? One can dream.

I found some more prompts I wrote a while back. I'm going through looking for more to add here, so expect some more in the coming days/weeks depending on how slow I am.


	8. Rusted

Bonus to the Inheritance Promt listPrompt **:Rusted**

* * *

"I've never seen a synthetic rusted over before."

Sakura drew up the bottom of her face scarf and narrowed her eyes over the edge. "That's because they don't. This one's been damaged and parts have been replaced with subpar metal works."

Karin didn't draw up her face scarf but let it flap under her chin, unbothered by the grains of granting sand that occasionally would fly her way. It was windy in the Country of Wind, but not that windy. "He must have been terrible if someone chose to patch him up like that instead of take him to an Industry facility."

Sakura looked over at her friends with tired eyes. "Don't joke."

Karin scratched at the corner of her skin. "They have to have something here they could use."

"Not since their open rebellion against the Country of Fire. Here's a bite of history for you if integrating is truly something you want, when our enemies tried to bring us down we made sure they couldn't stand up again. In retaliation my father's units raised the lands and destroyed all advanced technologies. It's taken them years to scrape together this much."

"I thought your teammate and the new Wind Leader are friends. Isn't Naruto gonna do something about this then?"

Sakura didn't answer right away. They were standing across the street in the market while the rest of the world flowed around them like fish in a current. She was still staring at the red haired synthetic unit with the one bad arm made out of metal and rust that likely wasn't even connected to any rural circuitry. From the elbow down it was an ugly sight that reminded her a little too well of her own war scars.

The androids face found her and didn't look away. Parts of him were ugly and rusted, but he had the face of an angel.

She was crossing the street before she knew what she was doing. The seller wrapped up in ugly tan rags smiled through the folds to see her approach and jumped in front of his unit to snag her attention. "Only the finest for exotic beauties such as yourself, pretty lady. Behold the sweet spices of a desert land." He then went off of a rave about the different spices that would cure her love life, bring her fertility, stimulate her acuity, heal a sore throat, and keep her young. Suna was nothing if not sexist at its core.

The redhead watched her without blinking the entire time Either he lacked the emotional intelligence that synthetics were famous for, or he knew he was being unsettling and didn't care. It was hard to place his year or model, since he seemed so customized.

"It smells."

Karin's voice broke into Sakura's senses and she turned to see her friend working the seller with her usual routine. When bartering, Karin didn't bother to try and hide the fact that she had money, but complimented it with a disdain that managed to middle prices down to suit her needs.

"Is there truly something here you might need?" Sakura sighed, walking over to stand behind Karin's shoulder and look out to the market road.

"I'm looking, such," Karin playfully hissed, smacking her friend lightly. Sakura let her. It was all part of the act. After a few minutes of haggling Karin managed to get a price she liked for the tea spices that was a deal to both parties.

The man was scooping the dried spices into a silk bag for her when he looked to Sakura and asked, "And what does your heart desire?"

Sakura was about to tell him goodbye or maybe just walk away, but the glint of light on gold metal made her stop. "I want that AMD chip around your neck."

She had said it so casually he didn't miss a beat tying up the silk bag, but once the words registered his hands stopped. Slowly, greedy little eyes looked up to her and she knew he was willing to sell.

"Oh, that will cost you."

"I'm sure it will, but you're over pricing the hunk of junk if he's already missing visible parts. Do you even know his make and model?"

"He's pre war, but not by much. He was part of the last line we ever put out, the most advanced!"

Sakura studied the synthetic carefully, tilting her head to one side and playing up her inspection. She let her eyes run over his form and then trail away as if she had seen all of him and found herself wanting. "That may be the case, but that was an entire generation ago. We've made leaps and bounds in technology since then. What was his designation?"

"He was a custom model."

Karin snickered behind Sakura. "With a face like that he was probably a love model."

Sakura wanted to roll her eyes. He had a pretty face, but he was way too stern and unnerving for such sensitive work.

"You don't have a certificate of imprint?" Sakura asked, glancing to the chip on a chain around the man's neck.

"Don't need one. He needs this and it's just as good if you've got it on you." The old man grinned wide. "So, what's he worth to you?"

"Probably not what you want for him, considering the models we can get back in our country."

Karin huffed, "You mean the models you can get. Some of us still don't pass the bar exam yet."

Owning synthetics in the Land of Fire was rare due to the fact that only specific, qualified individuals could keep them. Sakura was highly qualified in her position so close to the Hokage, but she had never taken one for herself. Last she checked, she qualified for a total of four units, but that was many months ago. It might have gone up again.

"He's not built with the silly safeguards you're so insistent on. He's from the golden age in the golden country," the man went on. "He's worth 1,000,000 ryō to me."

"I'm sure he is, but that's what we get paid for S Class missions and you must think too highly of me for that. I'll do…sixty for him."

"You insult me."

It begun and between the two of them the back and forth banter last a total of fifteen minutes with plenty of pro and cons being thrown out all while the unit sat, without speaking or moving. Finally Sakura got him down to 85 and that was only after she pulled out that much money and showed it to him. That was a lot of money to be carrying around in Suna and it might have made him think her foolish for it, if not for the fact that she equated his price with an S Class Mission. That factoid had flavored the tone of negotiations favorably for her.

He took the money greedily and handed over the card. "Have fun."

Sakura held onto the chip and looked up at the unit. He still didn't blink. "What's your name?" she asked.

It was a heartbeat later before he answered. "Sasori of the Red Sand."

"Sasori, it's nice to meet you. Will you come with me now?"

"No."

Karin had been looking off but turned around suddenly. "No?" she nearly screeched. "What you mean no? You cost a small house."

Sakura rubbed the card between her fingers and the adhesive design began to peel off. Fake. She turned her eyes to the seller, but Karin was already screaming at his empty seat, cursing out the old man. Sasori didn't move and Sakura didn't react. Behind her face cloth she schooled her emotions back into something close to calm. She knew the old man's scent. She could find him later.

"Why not?" Sakura asked, looking back at Sasori. "Are you calibrated to someone already?"

"Not since the war, no."

Sakura nodded slowly. "Then the man I just did business with…why were you with him?"

Sasori held up his rusted arm. "He gave me this. I had no other purpose or place to be. I can do as I please from his shadow well enough."

"Do you want to stay here with that man?" Sakura asked.

His expression shifted for the first time and Sakura started to feel a thrill of hope that there was something more to his programing. "You ask me a question."

"Do you?"

"I'll pay my debts."

"I actually just paid your debts."

His face shifted again and there was a cut of humor to the curve of his lips. "You are not the first one he's sold me to, and maybe not the last. I'll stay here, I think. I don't have a reason to leave."

Sakura felt pieces of a puzzle fall into place. "You were a military unit. One of my mentors told me of a line based off the Suna zodiac. Sasori means scorpion, doesn't it?"

The muted disinterest that softened his posture was from the war, and she kicked herself for not recognizing it right away. It was the same way Kakashi held himself. He hadn't been programed without emotions, but with enough to feel depression and trauma.

Her right hand tingled.

The Zodiac unit were elite solo operatives on the field, loyal to the Kazekage, but once that man was killed their purpose died with him. The old country collapsed and became something new. His place was gone, but there was no where else for him to be.

The loyalty to the man who gave him that arm made sense, the stories said the old Zodiacs were built with traditional values of chivalry and virtue. They were the golden heroes for the golden country.

No wonder the line didn't circulate well. No one in Suna wanted virtue anymore. They just wanted water and food and maybe a bit of blood now and then. Among his own people there wasn't really a place for him anymore.

"Is there any hope that I might convince you to come with me?" Sakura asked.

"No, and not to the Land of Fire."

"Is there nothing you want?"

He looked her over again, staring at her with searching eyes. "You ask odd questions for a human speaking with a synthetic. Are you not used to treating others like they are inferior, or is that only when you're bartering for them?"

"I think there is something you want, but you don't know how to get it. You might not even know what it is, but you haven't felt right in a long time."

Sasori watched her, wordlessly. Ever so slightly, his body turned towards her, listening.

Sakura pulled back her cloak and extended an arm. She spread her fingers, rolled her wrist and showed off the pale peach color and style before extending it to him. She beckoned with her fingers and he hesitated only once before reaching out to shake her hand with his metal one.

"That hand served you well but mine serves me better."

With their hands still held, Sakura pulled at the pin in her arm and there was a light as her arm separated from the socket that fit over her scarred biceps. A myriad of glowing green wires extended between the socket and her arm end before snapping off and winding back up into the socket.

Sasori's eyes seemed to be more alive than before as he looked over her false arm with new interest. She watched his mouth part as he ran his fingers over the knuckles.

"Where?" he asked.

"I designed and built it. I'll do the same for you, that was my plan anyway. It's the reason I wanted you. That arm you're wearing doesn't suit you."

There was real want in his eyes as he looked up at her. "But why would you pay so much for the trouble of such labor?"

The hand that wasn't metal supported her elbow while the metal one still held her at the hand, fingers almost interlocked.

The green wires snaked out of her socket and connected with the end of her detached arm like opposite magnets seeking out each other. Across the distance, Sakura's wires tugged and her arm came back, sliding seamlessly into place as the tissue over the socket stretched and smoothed. She was seamlessly human once more, flexing her fingers and rolling her wrist with all the grace it took to tickle strings on a violin.

"I like pretty thing."

She offered him her newly attached hand once more, but this time it was an offering and not a handshake.

"So, what do you say?"

* * *

AN/ Spoiler alert-he said yes.


	9. Dragonfly Heart

**Dragonfly Heart**

Challenge was to write a Kbuto/Sakura angst in 1K or less. Here's 998 words thanks to the prompting words of thefreckledone on Tumblr but I'm not sure how I did on angst, oh well.

* * *

"An organic life form you say? Your alchemy has truly progressed to have accomplished such work. Will she expire traditionally?"

Kabuto swallowed before addressing his spymaster. Sasori was as charming as his namesake, but for what he lacked he made up for in ruthless efficiency. Hesitation earned Kabuto no merit here.

"She won't age, and unless her soul gem is shattered she won't expire, sir."

Sasori hummed more to himself than in reply. WIth hands made for a piano, or maybe a spider's web, he reached out and traced the shape of the girl's face, stopping to test the silky texture of her hair.

"You don't think she's a bit too beautiful for spywork?"

Kabuto had fashioned Sakura out of cherry blossoms petals and belladonna roots with an amber heart encasing the prehistoric dragonfly for her soul. Nothing else he tried would generate independent life. She had the grace of a swan, stolen from one's bones, and the strength of a cobra, salvaged from its scales.

Kabuto hadn't considered himself an artist but when she opened her eyes, he wept.

"She's perfect," he answered a bit too breathlessly.

And she was.

Before long, Sakura was the top source in Sasori's spynetwork and Kabuto couldn't have been prouder. Being a creation, she possessed the knowledge of kings alongside a child's innocence. More than once he found himself playing the role of teacher in ways he had never anticipated.

"It hurts," she confessed to Kabuto one day. "Please, fix it."

Fear made him quick. "What's wrong, where does it hurt?"

Sakura's breathing was shallow but she grabbed at the fabric above her breastbone. "Needles are piercing me here. Stop them," she begged.

There was no wound, and Kabuto fel a unique dread settle in his gut as he regarded the girl too beautiful to be real. "What were you thinking about to make your heart hurt?" he asked in as calm a voice he could muster. "Was it a person?"

"You read those words and it made me like this. Are they magic words?"

"Words? What are you…" the words trailed off as he remembered the book of poetry he had read to her. The poems were love letters from a princess to a servant boy over a thousand years ago.

Sakura's hand found the fabric above his heart and he felt petrified by her touch. She had made him stone once more, for he dared not move as long as she was there.

"While the moon hugged the sky-frightened by loneliness, I called out in search for you, blinded by tears."

Kabuto could see himself reflected in her eyes, far too green and clear. The beginnings of tears had collected in the corners. He swallowed and reached to pull her hand away, but instead settled his atop hers and listened to her recite the rest of the poem.

"Hold me tight enough to break me. If I can see you again even just in a dream, please give me eternal sleep."

The first of her tears fell on his knuckles.

"Why do these words hurt me so?"

"Sakura," he tried.

"Tell me why it hurts! I can see the story like you told me to. I saw the ending. I did it right, so why does it pain me?"

"Sometimes, you can feel the pain others are feeling. It's called empathy and some humans never learn it." He brushed back a stray curl. "I had hoped fate would spare you, but I can see I was mistaken. I should have given you a spider for a heart. This dragonfly feels too much."

It's a long moment before Sakura pulls away and wipes her eyes clean. "I don't want you to do that. I don't want to not feel things. There are good things too."

"Oh, like what? Tell me." Kabuto was eager to distract her from unpleasant thoughts.

"I like how I feel when I'm with you." She touched her hair. "When you hold me, and talk to me. It makes the dragonfly wings beat."

Kabuto swallows. "Th-that's impossible. The dragonfly is stuck in amber," he laughs.

"And there really weren't any needles, but still…." Sakura touched her chest.

Kabuto left her before she could see how breathless she made him.

* * *

"I'd like you to give her to me. She'll fare better than any of my puppets."

"I-is there something wrong with my deployment of Sakura?" he asked Sasori.

Sasori leveled the much younger man with a look of boredom. "It's your own damn fault for making her so perfect. Bring her in, tell her she'll be mine starting today."

Kabuto felt numb as he did as his boss instructed.

Sakura had perfectly obeyed every command with unwavering loyalty. This order would be no different.

She looked both males over, reading their expressions before facing Sasori. Sasori never looked anything more than vaguely satisfied in his life, but when her gaze landed on him Kabuto recognized the reaction and knew the exact moment Sasori caught sight of himself in her eyes.

Caught.

Sakura's voice was a melody when she spoke. "I don't want to."

"You don't have wants, you're a creation and you're mine now. Kabuto is your master but I'm his boss and I say you're mine."

Sakura's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You're not the boss of me and I have plenty of wants." She finished speaking then turned towards Kabuto, triggering a smile as sweet as cherry blossoms. His hands reached for her on their own and he called out her name but it came out a gurgle as his throat welled with blood.

Sakura screamed and ran for him, but the wires were already separating him into pieces she couldn't fix. Kabuto watched her reach him and paw helplessly at his body, unable to stop the blood. Sasori was behind her and he reached for her, whispering something in her ear.

"Anything," she sobbed.

Sasori grinned and that's the last thing Kabuto saw before the world went black.


	10. Necrocomicon

"This is why I didn't want you practicing with the Necrocomicon. Damn, I thought I kept it locked up." Tsunade eyed the bottle left on her desk like it was at fault for the mess in front of her.

"I-I'm sorry, But I'm sure I can undo this. If I get the book back I could practice the reversal-"

"Sakura!" Tsunade's voice was sharp. "That's the last thing I'm going to let you do. If I leave you alone with that book another hidden village is going to end up in my living room at best. What if you summoned something truly eldritch and we had to save the world from it…again? This reality is easy enough to dismantle with a couple of intra-cosmic beings and a bad hair day."

"I just wanted to see how much I could sustain. I made sure nothing that didn't have a human form got through."

"Doesn't mean they're any less dangerous."

Sakura hung her head. Tsunade, the headmistress of Insmouth sighed heavily. It was such an odd problem, when most of the students were struggling to summon water from a raincloud Sakura was working on conjuring beings of power from realms beyond. The last time they had to deposit her summon in the school lake and kids were still complaining of boats missing and strange noises in the early morning fog.

"Where are they right now?"

Sakura closed her eyes and concentrated for a moment before answering. "They're still all in my room. None of them have left."

Tsunade groaned again. "And on top of all this you're still somehow connected to them. Great, not a problem. Yeah, this is fine. Ugh, can't get better." She slapped both of her cheeks and then shook her head, as if that would help the situation. "Okay, this is what we're going to do. I'm sending them back on the 31st in two weeks. It'll be easy to cast things back on that day. Until then, those things are your problem. You gotta keep them out of trouble. Got it?"

"Of course," Sakura chirped, glad she wasn't being expelled. How hard could it be to watch a handful of creatures that were filled with eldritch truth and likely enlightened?

When sakura got back to her dorm room Itachi was meditating on the floor in front of her door, waiting for her like a puppy awaits it's beloved master. Sasuke was standing on the table in her kitchen trying to eat the spiders that lived in the light fixture, Shisui and Madara were looking guilty with a pair of panties in each fist, while Izuna stood between them red faced and wearing one of Sakura's best communion dresses. Kagami was nowhere to be seen, but she heard water running from the bathroom and she could only assume what that meant.

"Oh."


	11. Gems

Sakura never shattered. It was one of the things that helped identify her when she first came to the compound. With wispy pink hair as fine as cotton candy and eyes that deceptively reflected the world in shades of green, the fact that she wasn't a solid color baffled Kakashi, her Zoisite mentor.

"It's a mutation…a rare one," he later explained. "It happens though. You were made from more than one mineral. Either there wasn't enough of the first to give you form or…maybe there were two such minerals growing like that together.

"I doubt it," Sakura huffed. She looked down at her nails and watched the light bounce off their reflective surface. "Jade and Diamond don't even grow in the same veins.

He simply shrugged. "Like I said, a mutation."

There were a lot of mutations at the compound, and it was the main reason Sakura had been sorted to the outpost when she first woke up. She hadn't known why it was such a undesirable outpost until she realized why people looked at them funny.

It was Sasuke who actually explained to her that they were lab grown mutations while the gems from the other compounds were naturally occurring. His mismatched eyes spun lazily in two opposite patterns that marked him as abnormal.

Lab grown gems were worse.

"It's what they say to themselves to salvage their pride when we show up and save their asses," Kakashi cut in curtly, before Sakura could sink too deep into her self pity. He eyed Sasuke keenly before smiling back over at Sakura with only one eye. "You both have some of the best field states in the business. Be proud."

But it was hard to be proud when no one, not even the fellow rejects, wanted to talk to you or congratulate you. Not even the other diamonds who shared a fraction of the same mineral with her wanted to hang out. The Jade touched ones were the same. If Sakura had been all diamond or all jade it would have been different, but it wasn't.

Sasuke and Kakashi tolerated her, Kakashi more than Sasuke, but that was because they were a unit that needed to work together. Together the three of them made up a trivium of power that always went home alone…and that was fine. None of them owed her anything more than the causal relation.

So Sakura focused on doing a good job the only place she could, and she did the best job. Sakura never shattered, after all.

* * *

"I know it's a three man cell, but we're highly efficient on our own so they're splitting us up," Kakashi said one day.

"But we're not an even number. How is that a split?" Sakura asked, feeling the panic rise. Sasuke and Kakashi were closer having been together longer.

When Kakashi awkwardly smiled and rubbed the back of his neck Sakura knew her fears were not misplaced.

"Well, this is actually all because new recruit needs someone to show him around and you were sorta perfect for it. Sorry, Sakura, but I actually think this will be perfect for you, a much better fit than the two of us. He's also a diamond."

Sakura knew plenty of diamonds. The yellow diamond with sapphire eyes had once been a close friend, but that was a while back.

"Who is it?"

Kakashi handed her a report and didn't bother to hide his stare as she reached for it with glittering nails of polished jade. She didn't cover them up like the others did, she didn't need to. There wasn't anything the enemies could do even if they did spot her.

"Gaara?" Sakura read the name out loud.

"He's a red diamond, very rare, and his secondary mineral is Jadeite while your's is Nephrite…but you're both Jade."

* * *

Gaara and her didn't get along very well at first. He was brilliant at slaughter and left very little work for her. Between the two of them, their enemies didn't stand a chance and it wasn't long before enemy movements started to adapt to purposefully avoid the diamond warriors.

But in spite of all their skill, neither was well received back in the compound. If anything, the shunning got worse.

Sakura asked Gaara what he felt like when he heard the other diamonds, the worst of them, speaking behind their backs.

"Just ignore them," he told her like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Sakura tried.

She couldn't.

She ended up spending her nights outside the compound, knowing well enough that there were never any attacks at night from their enemies. Just like how they never did anything but sleep at night, she knew she would be safe because the time after sundown was when gems were weakest and the most sluggish.

It was also when they got the most emotional and honest with themselves, but that wasn't important. It was fine that Sakura was out on her own where no one could see how, in spite of her hardness, she still let things get to her.

On the second night she was able to sleep without crying, but it was on the third night when things changed.

She heard her name being shouted over the wind that whistled over the rocks. It made her look up from the makeshift bed and climb out to the mouth of the cave and look around.

Gaara was on a ledge just above her, but spotted her the moment her glimmering fingernails grabbed at the stone to pull herself out. He turned towards her, shouting her name right before leaping the rest of the way down and landing right in front of her.

"You have to come back with me! It's not safe to be out here after dark. The sun is down, we need to go," he urged, sounding more moved with emotion than Sakura had ever heard in him.

"I'm fine here. What-what are you doing out here Gaara?" Sakura asked, tugging her arms out of his hold.

He just reached for her again. "The sun is set, we need to be inside the compound."

Sakura rolled her eyes and took a few more steps out with him but stopped, digging her heels in and insisting he turn back and face her.

"I'm not going back and it doesn't matter. I've been out here for a couple of nights already and it's no big deal. No one missed me anyway."

He rounded on her hotly, and the ghost light that was left in the sky from an already set sun made the lines of stress on face all the more pronounced. " _I_ missed you!"

Sakura swallowed, not knowing what to say next. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"I just said it, I missed you. I noticed. I went looking for you last night too but couldn't find you. I didn't know you had left the compound…"

He let out a shaky breath and dropped her arm to run his hands through his messy red hair, as dark as the blood diamond he was made out of. It was growing dark, but Sakura could still see the way his face crumpled.

"I didn't know you minded. You never said anything before."

"Of course I minded. You're my match. I don't want a different partner." He swallowed and dropped his hands to his side. "What made you think I wouldn't care?"

"You never talk to me or want to hang out back at the compound."

"That would only make them tease you more and you didn't like it. I was waiting until it didn't bother you anymore before making it worse."

Sakura felt like in her heart. "You don't hate me too?"

The look on his face made her think he was annoyed with her question. "Of course not. You're my match."

Sakura's voice was a whisper. "I thought you hated me."

Gaara bowed his head and reached out for on of her hands, waiting for her to take his. "If I promise to…hang out with you, will you promise not to regret it when they get mean again?"

Sakura took his hand. "That won't bother me at all," she answered with a wide grin.


	12. Sweet Dreams are Made of These

**Sweet Dreams are Made of These**

 _PeinSaku onesided_

* * *

The being before her was the paragon of visceral fear in flames and wings. Every angle of him was edged out in fire that burned all else in the dreamscape but her. Above his head a crown of spinning spearheads glowed in holy light. When he spoke his voice was everywhere at once.

"And thus says the voice of the elder herald to the ears of his prophet, a voice is calling, and her demands shall be heard!"

Sakura woke up the next morning and went about her day. The only deviation was when her landlord called from the Islands to ask Sakura to reset the drip cycle for the front yard.

It wasn't what she had in mind when she had her prophetic dream last night, but she had to admit it was less weird than the time she ended up babysitting a neutered pug for her teacher. 'And the castrated will be cast out.' Or the time she ran out of Blueberries. 'The Driscoll's harvest will be one of nought.' Or when she got her period a week early-

Sakura shut down her wild train of thought before the stupid herald's voice could sound out in her head something about flowing red rivers and the nectar of her nether regions. She had heard his stupid prophecies for years and she was getting sick of them.

She fell asleep on the couch but woke up in a familiar white hall. The being was blazing before her in fluttering white robes notched in gold buttons that matched the glow of fire off his wings. His spinning gray eyes that seemed to go on forever were wide as he held up his hands to decree something.

"Just stop it!" Sakura cried, cutting Pein off before he could say anything. "Shut up, for once. Just shut up-shut up. Ughh, I'm tired of this."

Pein lowered his hands slowly. "O-oh."

Sakura huffed, annoyed. "This isn't fun, and I'm sick of it. I just want to be a normal teenager and have sex dreams when I go to sleep, not this gibberish."

Pein stared at her mutely for a moment, but then reached up to pull at the loop keeping his buttons fastened.

Sakura balked. "Ew, not you."

Pein's blazing wings of fire dropped low and dimmed to a dull ember, trailing smoke as his shoulders sagged and the dream snapped apart.


	13. Enemies to Lovers

**Enemies to Lovers**  
 **SasoSaku**

* * *

The alarm had been cut and the lights, once flashing, now sat dead in their sockets. The authorities were on their way, but they would be worse than useless. Sakura had to end this as quickly as possible.

The redhead stared down at her from underneath the cover of his dark nave hood, embellished with the gold needlework of The Eye of Horus and several other Egyptian symbols. He raised on hand and the parts of his coat slipped further open, showing off the bare of his chest where a myriad of gold objects dangled, each cursed with a different power that Sakura had devoted the better part of her career to combating.

Today Sasori found another one. He held out the Gold scepter and Sakura felt a chill in her gut, praying this wasn't the item that finally tipped the scales in his favor.

"This is my birthright," Sasori said, righting the scepter. Behind him the display case was in a glitter mess of glass shards. The plaque that read ' _Sennen Roddo: Millennium Rod_ ' was cracked on the floor.

"This is your _trap_ , honey," Sakura cooed teasingly.

"You are a fool to think this will end well for you."

"Doesn't it always?" Sakura teased before moving.

They had danced like this before. She was fast, untouchable, a daughter of the stars, she wasn't a hero he would take down so easily. Her magical abilities may not be as well developed as his, but she had a well where he was a puddle. She was young, still learning, but she knew him well enough.

Or she thought she did.

With his new millennium item he had a new set of powers to add to the list of skills he had already bested in battle. His puppets were worthless under her fists and his swordplay was no better than hers.

Sakura had tried to use gravity against him, pulling him down with a thrall of void, but his rod countered that move easily, sucking up the density from her miniature black hole. She tried with another attack and he countered that one as well. Sakura moved and he countered, Sasori moved and she dodged. It was a stiff standstill for longer than Sakura wanted to admit. Sasori was playing with her.

"Enough!" Sakura roared, punching through the body of one of his puppet body guards. She was up in his personal bubble, close enough to see his eyes widen.

Sakura felt her skin begin to glow as she prepared to discharge in his proximity. It would exhaust her, but she needed to end this. Sakura was a light. She was light. She was a star. She was starlight.

The air was gone from her and she felt herself suck out a gasp, falling to her knees as her magic was leached from her into the rod, Sasori standing over her, looking nervous but victorious. If she had gone off he wouldn't have been so lucky, but his new toy turned the tide.

"I told you, this was foolish of you to try and best me."

"What are you-" Sakura gasped, almost unable to form words anymore. She tried to make sound but felt the air was truly, completely gone. Darkness was eating around the edges of her vision. She was _going_.

' _Kakashi was right. I should have taken backup_.' She thought before she fell atop his feet in a breathless lush.

* * *

Sakura was surprised when she woke up. She was still alive. She had anticipated the death of her mortal form and the long, laborious process of reshaping herself from the particles of her magic. Hadn't Sasori threatened to kill her in the past? She lost, a first. Why had he kept her alive?

She turned over and felt part of the reason swish in the movement. She pushed up off the bed and looked down, touching at the folds of her long, white cotton dress. There was a shimmery see through attachment at the neck that connected to her wrists and flowed out behind her. She turned and pulled the navy colored fabric up for inspection and saw stars and constellations painted in gold patterns. It reminded her of the things she wore when she first stumbled into form behind Tsunade's forest so many years ago.

There were no chains, no robes, no binding, not even a threatening dungeon in sight. Sakura sat up on the edge of the bed and looked around, noticing how the room's back was open to a expansive terrace with the doors left wide open.

She climbed out of bed and walked out in her bare feet, seeing a wild sight of rolling sand dunes and a binary sun-scape. It wasn't like anything she had ever seen on earth.

"Where is this?" Sakura breathed, walking over to the railing and grabbing the edges. There was an oasis below and some sort of garden for lounging and enjoyment.

"You're awake."

Sakura spun, hands raised defensively in the direction of the voice of her enemy. Sasori didn't flinch in the slightest, but swirled the wine in his glass a little more.

"You," Sakura breathed, eyes wide. "What have you done with me and where are we? Why am I still alive and not one of your puppets?"

The redhead narrowed his eyes at her, not unkindly, and lifted the glass to his lips to sip from. Sakura noticed then that he was shirtless, dressed in a long white skirt, bronze colored sandals, and a metal collar piece that spread out like an eagle across the upper portion of his chest. He looked like some tacky sort of Prince of Egypt knockoff, or he would have in that costume if he wasn't so incredibly handsome already. Good genetics saved a hollywood disaster wardrobe. Sasori could probably look good in a sack cloth.

"I see you're fine enough to be up and moving. You weren't out long, but I didn't expect less. Welcome to my world, a land of my own making."

"Where have you taken me, Sasori?" Sakura asked again, not understanding his words.

"This is not a place you or any of your friends could reach. We are inside the Millennial Eye."

"What? I thought that item only transported you places."

He huffed and there was a small curl to his lips that made her think he was amused. "Yes, places. Any place I so choose, even a place of my own dreaming. You'll not be rescued here so try and make the best of it."

"Yeah, I'm going to be freaked about that later, but why would you bring me somewhere like here? You should have killed me or made me into one of your puppets. Isn't that what you've threatened in the past? What do you want from me now?"

"You're preceptive to see there is more to this. Yes, I have wants. Making you into a puppet is not one of them."

Sakura grew irritated as a nagging suspicion formed deep in her gut. It felt like he was teasing her. "You haven't answered my question. What do you want?"

Sasori drank more from his wine, draining the glass. "I will be satisfied," he began to say as he slowly lowered the glass, "With your company at dinner, knowing this prison is one you will never break on your own." He smirked at her, fully and completely before turned and becoming her down to the gazebo be the palms where a feast was waiting.

Sakura watched him leave, a bit taken aback, before she gave in and followed him there.

* * *

He had kept her a week before Sakura was too stir crazy to avoid or verbally lash out at him every free minute of the day. He would come to taunt her, enjoy her reactions, and leave her in ways she couldn't follow.

Sasori had been right about there not being a way out. Sakura had tried, even combusting a few times, but nothing seemed to dent the fabric of the reality. His magic was from an older time, one before even her consciousness.

When he came into the gazebo she best loved to relax in she didn't get up to yell at him or bite curses off in his direction. Lazily she looked up from her needlework and then dismissed him with a huff to return to her cross stitch, flipping the needle in and out in steady motions.

Her inaction seemed to have caught him off guard. He almost looked disappointed, but after a moment he pulled up a chair and relaxed into it, watching her.

"What is that?" he asked, after a long moment of wordlessness.

Sakura didn't looking up from her stitching. "Needlepoint."

"I see that, but what are you making?"

Sakura paused, but didn't look up at him. "I'm not sure yet. I'll know when it's done."

She heard him hum in acknowledgment before settling into the chair, content to watch her work. He was patient, more so than most men Sakura had encountered. Sasori could out wait them all.

Sakura paused, setting her things down on her lap to star back over her shoulder at him. "Is there something I can help you with or was there something you came to say?"

"You are delicate in your art. That is admirable," he commented after a long moment of just staring at her face.

Sakura felt her lips tug down. "Sasori, what do you want with me?" she sighed, deflating in her seat.

He had found a pillow to draw into his lap and knead in idle entertainment. "You do not know?" he asked, softly, eyes searching hers. "It's been days together and still you refuse to entertain the possibility I might-"

"Be honest with me," Sakura cut him off, annoyed with his puppy dog eyes and the too soft lips that told lies too easily.

His soft eyes turned hard as he threw the pillow down and stood. "I am serious with you! Do you think I would have aspired to take anyone into the intimacy of my world, keep them alive and catered to them so well after years of rivalry? Do you think I would have done half as much with a lack of feelings?"

"I know better than to believe you," Sakura hummed, looking back down at the needle and cloth in her lap. She reached for them again but his hand was there, throwing it aside and planting himself directly in front of her. She looked up and glared, ready for a fight.

"You know nothing of how I feel," he said before bending down to slip his lips over hers, catching the back of her head with his hand and holding onto her wrist with the other.

It lasted less than a moment before he pulled away. His eyes were hungry, seeing everything in her before he turned and stalked out, taking the daylight with him and ushering in night.

* * *

He didn't hide from her like she thought he would. He put himself in her vision every chance he could get, even if they weren't in physical proximity to each other. Sakura let him do as he pleased, anticipating another kiss or some other form of aggressive affection, but he dared not touch her again.

Sakura tried to lie to herself about how she wasn't disappointed.

She found him by the waters on the last marble step into the pool of lily pads and clear water. He looked up as he heard her approach, but didn't move away or towards her. He simply watched her take up a place beside him on the last step.

"We've been on opposite sides for years now," she said, watching fireflies dance across the waters. "Why would you say something like that to your enemy?"

"It never mattered to me what you were," he scoffed. "Enemies are still capable of love. I never hated you."

Sakura scoffed, flicking the water with her toe. "You've tried to kill me, more than once."

"I was never such a threat," he chuckled, eyes narrowed in amusement. "You were too great to be in any real danger."

"I've known you for years, we've fought for years. Whe-when did you…?" Sakura staggered on the words, unable to force them out. ' _When did you start to like me?'_

"I don't know. I think it might have been always, but the admiration was always there, from the moment I first beheld your splendor. It didn't matter you were my opposite, the one who kept me from my plans. Every time we met I think I fell a little further."

"But we're enemies, Sasori."

He turned to her, eyes suddenly bright with courage. "That's why I brought you here. Out there is where the morals hang, but here, no one need know what we share between us. No one has to know about us, I know this could ruin you, but here there is a hope."

"Sasori…I…." She shook her head, feeling heat stir in her with uncomfortable familiarity. "I can't be that for you. I can't stop being who I am for a dream."

"I'm not asking you to change, I wouldn't expect that and I don't want that! I fell in love with the star who championed her justice and mercy and goodness." His voice caught towards the end and he swallowed nervously, a shaky smile on his face. She wasn't used to seeing him smile and it made her unsettled in a thrilling way. She wanted to say she liked his smile.

She shook her head, needing to break eye contact before she be too far drawn in. "I don't know. It's not something you could just ask of anyone. You can't ask me to suddenly feel something for you."

He reached for her, tentative and hesitant. When she didn't pull away he took her by the arm and drew her into an embrace he could fold into. She felt him breath her in and press her closer to his chest. His heart was a fluttering thing she could hear. "You don't have to say you love me. No one means it anyway." His voice was a flutter in her ear as his hand reached up to run long fingers through her hair. She heard him catch on his words more than once. "Just let me love you, and you can pretend to love me. I don't mind."

Sakura didn't say anything, but she pulled her face away and drew his down to kiss.

* * *

It was a month later when her stitching was finished. Sakura held the swatch of fabric up, filled it with magic, and tore it clean through. A tear then opened up in the world around her, the same shape and size as the one in her hand, only magnified as she walked through.

Sasori found out shortly thereafter, hands full of gifts from Paris and deserts from Italy. His world was empty and there was nothing he could dream up to heal that scar in his heart.

He searched for her in the real world, desperately. His contacts came up fruitless, and not even her allies seemed to know where she was, or if they did his spices couldn't tell. Some believed she went back to the stars and she wasn't anywhere reachable anymore, but Sasori refused to believe she was somewhere beyond his reach, somewhere he would never be able to touch her again.

Others said she was dead, beaten at her own game at long last. Sasori didn't let those rumors leave with their teeth.

Going back to the oasis world was too painful. He could scarcely step back into it without wanting to rip it apart and un-dream it all. But there was no way he could do that. In his weakest moments he went back there, to the pool, to the gazebo, to the pillows where he held her and pretended she was still there, just out of sight, lying to him sweetly.

He hated himself after those nights, and tried his best not to be that weak. After another excursion across the black forest he returned to his flat and stilled at the sensation of not being alone.

There was a music playing on the old record player he hadn't touched in months.

A dozen different arms brandishing blades dripping with poison were pulled out from the folds of his cloak, ready and tensed.

"Put those away before you hurt someone," Sakura lazily commented, leaning back in his favorite armchair with one knee propped behind the other. She turned her head to the side and looked at him again. "You weren't easy to find."

"You…" Sasori didn't believe it. She was in his flat, willingly, perched so delicately in one of his favorite places like she knew it was where he would gravitate to. He didn't have the words for her. All he could do was stare.

Was this where she killed him? He deserved it. Maybe he would let her. It would hurt less than having to live without her after he had tasted her paradise.

Sakura lifted a finger and paused before speaking. "First, you don't trap me or strip me of my autonomy ever again. I won't be caged and made your lesser in anything ever." She lifted a second finger. "Second, you quit the criminal empire and the villain known as Scorpion hangs up his villain cape. I won't be getting into any morally compromising commitments. And third," she paused before adding a third finger, "You accept what I say now as truth:I never lied to you in that world. Never, not even once."

Never lied? But she told him she loved him just like he asked. She had told him plenty of lies. She had told him she cared for him, secrets of her childhood, of her fears and doubts. She had been so bare with him that had to have been a lie. And yet…

"Sakura, what are you doing here?" he asked, voice raw with a new emotion. He felt afraid of her. Afraid to break her, afraid to be broken by her again.

She dropped her fingers and gave him a stare like it was obvious. "Really? You have to ask that after all we've been through. I came back to you, freely, all on my own. You told me you fell in love with who I am, but who I am is a person that _will not_ be caged or manipulated into love."

She uncrossed her legs and shifted to the other direction in the seat. "If you still love me, please kiss me," she requested softly, watching him openly.

Sasori did not hesitate.

 _"I have suffered through too many worlds without you."_


	14. Queen of the World

_Queen of the World_

 _TobiSaku_

* * *

 _You keep what you kill_ is the law of the wild, and of the tribal empire. With this law it has made Sakura a monarch when in her heart all she ever dreamed of being was a blood warrior, the kind that never died, the kind that slew monsters as easily as pray could be slaughtered. She dreamed of being the queen of only her fists and draped in nothing but moonlight and victory.

Victory was a red, mandala patterned cloak around her shoulders as servants in white fed her green grapes from straight off the vine while bell girls danced across the tent in silk and gauze.

The tribal empress Kaguya had left behind a vast and mighty empire that Sakura had no intention of enjoying the way it was meant to be enjoyed. She drank the wine and ate the food easily enough, but the entertainment meant nothing to her. She never watched the dancers and did her best to ignore the other pleasures afforded to being empress of all under the horizon.

She felt warm hands slip under her cloak, shifting through the cotton shrug underneath in search of flesh. Sakura stiffened and turned quickly to grab the boy by his neck. His hands fell from her hips but gripped the wrist of her hand just as reverently.

"My Radiance," he breathed, closing his eyes and trying his best to bow with her hand still around his throat.

"Put the boy down, he was only doing as he was told," a new voice called.

Sakura dropped the dark eyed boy with hair just as black, falling like silk rivers over his bare shoulders. He wore next to nothing, and by the gold tattoo on his chest, she knew why.

"I told you I would not take any of the people from the harem," Sakura snarled, looking back at the older woman who was tasked and charged with grooming and preserving the boys and girls in Kaguya's seraglio.

It had been several years since Sakura's victory over the 'world's strongest woman' but only recently had she returned to the sacred capital of the tribal people. After the first day, for every night after, there had been an attempt from one of the boys or girls to bed her. Their caregiver claimed it had been too long without a ruler. Some of them had never seen the Kaguya woman and were still in need of 'deflowering.'

It was not what Sakura had imagined when she set out to conquer the world, and she knew that sooner or later she would have to do something about the soft, pretty people that came pawing at her covers each night, but it would not be this night.

Sakura rose and threw off her cloak, striding down the polished steps straight through the path of the dancer's performance. "Someone get me my horse, I wish to ride!"

* * *

The last queen of the wilds had been old and well on her way into the next life. Her empire was poised for change, but no one believed it would be shifted into the hands of a nameless nobody girl without a clan or lineage to speak of.

There was nothing special about this underdog of a girl that emerged from the wilds like the first, rumored queen from myth, and the stories about how she had won for herself the crown of the world was a fool's song.

Those lands deserved to be in the hands of someone suited to rule, someone fit for leadership, and when his brother declined the challenge, claiming he had no desire to fight for more land, Tobirama took the burden upon himself. He would set the world straight if no one else would. If he didn't, one of the Uchiha heirs would go after it.

The land was wide between where he was and where she waited. The grasslands were vast in a way that drove lesser men mad. Sometimes they seemed to stretch on for days, and if you tried to cross them without a horse, they could.

She met him in the skirts of her borders with the wilds that still technically fell under her protection atop a speckled gray war horse that looked like it was bred on bones and flesh. She dismounted in a single fluid movement and turned to kiss her mare's neck before walking away from it. She rode in no saddle, and carried no weapons he could see.

For a queen that refused the title of empress, she was even less intimidating in person. Tobirama was struck by her small frame and stature. She was a girl, yes, but even so he expected an amazon when he heard the stories of how she split the world open.

'J _ust stories_.'

"You wish to fight me for my lands?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. She didn't dress in armor, but simple cotton clothes that caught the wind and flapped around her waist and arms. There was a cord of navy blue around her neck studded with tassels and the wrap around belt that fit under her chest bindings was the same rich color. Everything else about her was faded and white.

Tobirama was a man of few words, so he nodded and fell into a stance. If he tried to talk now he was afraid of what he might say. He felt a corner of his heart rot with guilt about what he would have to do to such a young, pretty thing. She likely didn't deserve this, but it was for the good of the world.

Looking back, he knew that the moment he lost was when he didn't take her seriously. She was a wraith in white between the grasses and he had no time to move to the offense. She never ran out of energy as she matched him in speed, something he was famed for, and never seemed to sweat when they came in close to trade blows.

He fell not soon after, clutching the side of his face where her nail grazed him earlier on. "It's paralysis," he choked, eyes wide.

"Yes, but it wont' kill you," Sakura answered, sitting down next to him. She smiled and it looked sad. "Sorry, you'll be stiff for a while. But you deserve it for not taking me seriously. I didn't even have to use much of my chakra. I thought I might lose to you too, with all the stories I've heard. If you had bee serious from the beginning this might have ended differently."

"You'll kill me now, or hold me for ransom." His jaw tingled as the rest of his body stayed numb.

Sakura hummed, looking off to where her war horse grazed. "No, I'll stay with you until you can walk again. I trust you to find your own way back afterwards." She closed her eyes as another breeze passed over them and the shriek of a hawk made the grasslands shiver. It would be dark soon, and wild things stalked in the night.

She pulled him onto her back and lifted him like it was nothing before carrying him to her horse before riding to a camp. She set up a fire and made food for them, feeding him when his arms refused to move past his elbows.

While she cleaned the hides from the rabbit dinner, she told him stories elders told children and then went on about the tattoos she hid under her sleeves and what they meant. She asked him about his but he kept silent, not knowing how to respond.

She stayed awake the night he slept, and when he woke in the morning, he could move again. She stood on the edge of camp watching the sun from her perch with her arms cross over her chest. The gold glare of their naked sun set her hair afire from where it whipped about her neck.

She left without another word more, seeing he could walk and limp about on his own. Weeks later, the memory of her wordless departure still haunted him.

When he starts seeing her in his dreams he knows he is without hope. A half a month later and the image of her face bathed in gold staring out across the open ocean of grass will not leave him. He saw it whenever he closed his eyes and wanted it everywhere.

Never a man of many words or desires, the asexual male kept his proclivities to himself and told no one of his budding attraction to the spirit of the girl he could not best.

His brother noticed and took a silent sort of joy in needling Tobiramu's budding desires.

"What do you mean the Hyuga male left to join her? Her empire does not accept foreign nationals of noble lineage into its army."

Hashirama Senju laughed at his younger brother. Usually so wordless, Tobiramu spoke easily when it came to her. "No, not her army, her _harem_."

The paler of the two brothers was stiff and silent for a while before speaking. "Her what?"

"Harem."

"I hear you. That has to be wrong, she dissolved the harem with her code of civil laws. Neji couldn't have done what you say he did."

"It was dissolved, but then when she went away in the first week there were so many applicants signing up of their own free will that the harem stayed in business. There is nothing to prohibit people from volunteering, she only abolished the slavery clause to be technical."

"But Neji is-"

Hashirama Senju laughed. "I know, right? He's such a stick in the ass, I was surprised, but apparently he fell for her when she toured through his country. And his cousins are the heirs in his clan, they didn't need him, so his uncle let him do as he wished. He's there now."

"How could he?"

"He seemed to really like her."

Tobiramu glared. "He doesn't even know her."

Hashirama raised an eyebrow and looked at his brother. "And you do?"

Tobirama knew she had a hawk tattooed over her left ribcage for the first wild animal she tamed as a pet, and that she loved to watch the tribal dances and the wrestling matches at festivals. She told him of her attempts at mountain singing, (the type that sounded like moaning on and on) and how she couldn't stand it anymore. He knew other things too, like nothing in the world would look as unearthly as her face bathed in golden sun. Neji wouldn't know _that_.

"You can leave if you want to. It would be a shame to let Neji get the idea into his head he can have whatever he wants if he goes after it, nah?" Hashirama asked, eyeing his brother.

"I don't think entering her harem is a sightly thing for a prince to do."

"It's the easiest way to get to see her again."

Tobirama stood and retreated to his room without another word. In the morning, all that was left behind was a scroll with his explanation and an excuse for his efforts to attempt to 'secure an alliance with the queen of the grasslands from inside her harem.'

* * *

Because someone has been talking to me about smutfics and I've been thinking about what I would do if I did one…and I don't think I could do something without a plot or an elaborate backstory soooooo…


	15. Breakfast in Bed

**Breakfast Fluff**

 _PeinSaku onesided_

* * *

She flipped through the letters from the mailbox, recognizing bill after bill. That was fine, she had just gotten her paycheck and with the new raise at work it seemed as if she was finally able to get on top of some of her expenses. Having her boyfriend move in had really helped in _that_ regard.

She glanced worriedly up at the window of her bedroom and sighed.

But the financial was only one aspect to their relationship's dynamics. They were supposedly closer than ever, but really Pein seemed further than before. He worked later and longer shifts, came home after she went to bed and left before she came back from work. She hardly ever saw him unless he got sick or called out.

She walked into their cozy townhouse and shut the front door behind her just in time to hear the sneeze echo from the upstairs bedroom.

She couldn't help but grin.

Humming happily, she put the mail away and got busy in the kitchen making waffles. Extra fruit in a bowl and plenty of cream sprayed out of a can made the try she had prepped for her boyfriend look like it was meant for a magazine. Waffles were his favorite, and it was sort of their staple food, the meal that they met over. It was the food that best represented them she thought. What better way to show her boyfriend she cared than their favorite meal together?

She took an extra glance in the mirror at her pretty bob, neatly curled and pinned back to make her Hollywood red lips stand out in contrast. She smiled, doe shaped eyes wrinkled at the corners in mischief before blowing a kiss to her reflection, knowing the lipstick would do the trick.

She knocked on their door and then eased it open with the toe of her foot. She didn't hear anything more than a rustle from the bed so she poked her head in and grinned wide when she saw her beautiful boyfriend stirring in the sheets. He blinked away and looked up at her from the sheets, hair a mess across their pillows.

"Sakura?" he croaked, voice hoarse from getting over his cold. He sounded even more dangerous than ever with a richer than rich timber that made her toes curl.

"Hey, babe. I made us breakfast."

"Us?" Pein blinked again and pushed up in bed to sit up against the pillows. He ran a hand through his hair, but it still stood up in messy rebellion.

Sakura hummed happily before letting herself in. She climbed onto the bed and wiggled over to where he sat before placing the tray down across his lap.

"Yes. Us. We haven't had enough time together. You've been working too hard. Don't pretend you haven't been making me suffer all alone all these weekday mornings."

She reached up and kissed the side of his face, ignoring as he flinched from the contact.

"You'll catch it," he replied lamely. "My cold."

"Don't care," Sakura pouted, voice going flat. "You're being mean to me."

He blinked again before narrowing his lovely lavender colored eyes at her. "How?"

"You're avoiding me."

"Nonsense. I do not wish you to become ill."

"All the other times?"

"It was work.

Sakura huffed loudly, making her cheeks inflate as she crossed her arms and sank back into the bed. " _All_ those time? Really?"

"…You think I'm trying to ignore you?"

"What else would I think?" She glared lightly at him. "You don't pay any attention to me when you are at home. If I don't visit you on your lunch break I don't think we'd ever get to talk."

"I am simply trying to respect you autonomy as I…I am trying to not take up any of the time or space you may need for yourself. You're not used to living with another person. It can be troublesome having to work around someone when you don't want them there."

Sakura stared at him with the widest open eyes that made Pein more and more uncomfortable by the minute. "Really?" she bit, sounding like she was trying to restrain herself.

Pein coughed into his hand, looking away. "You are too kind to say anything if you thought I was taking up more space than I should. You always prefer me. I don't see you put yourself first in anything."

"You think I'm too nice?" Sakura squeaked. "Pein, you uneducated fuckwaffle. Really? You think I'm not going to tell you to scram if I need it?" She leaned in, huffing till her cheeks were a rosy pink. The bed underneath them creaked.

"I-I" Pein swallowed, face red from something other than fever. "I didn't want to make you feel smothered."

"Please do. What do you think I am? You think I'm someone that wouldn't want their boyfriend after all that prolonged begging to make you move in with me? Please, don't think I'm perfect when I'm not. I'm selfish. Like, really selfish. I want to see your face, hear your voice, listen to your stories and hold you hand. I want to make food for you and have you hold me when we watch tv. I want it all with you. I want you to smother and spoil me."

Pein coughed again and covered half his face with one of his hands as he leaned forward in bed. She heard him groan as he shut his eyes and let his face turn even redder. "Sakura-you don't know how scary that can be. I'll become obsessed. You'll hate it." He looked up slowly. "I've been in love with you for _years_."

"Try me." Sakura pushed off the cover to his breakfast and dipped her finger into the whipped cream. "But breakfast first. You need to get over this bug. Say ahh, babe."


	16. Gas Station

**Gas Station**

 **MadMaxAU SakuraTeam7  
** _(This is one of my favs)_

* * *

Sakura glared at the crack in her rearview mirror and reached for it again, angeling it to see higher into the back of her skeleton rig. She was supposed to be empty, towing nothing, but the back still dragged with an extra weight. She felt it in the drifts, when she turned into the winds and expected to fight the gusts, her backend stayed down like it was filled with fuel, and now she was hearing things from back there.

Marauders from the dunes? She hadn't stopped since the Avalon Alcove, an oasis colony hidden deep in the earth, but knew that passing through the dunes was to risk an encounter with the sand riders and the sand people. She didn't doubt some of them were talented enough to sneak up behind her rig and attach themselves to her rear with a little help.

Of all rides to pick up trouble!

Sakura turned hard to the side and then countered to send her back end careening sideways, nearly tipping. If someone was hiding in the back fuel tank they would be sorely tossed.

Parked, she ripped out the wheel to her rig and latched it onto the back of her belt buckle, clicking it into the komodo dragon armor that moved over her backside like living scales. She slid from the driver's seat like her armor's namesake and stalked around her rig like a snake.

She leveled a sawed off double barrel with her left hand and kicked off the latch. The metal came away shirking on hinges until it banged into the side and bounced before settling. A pair of blinking eyes stared up into the light of the afternoon sun, haloed around her hooded face, while a third face turned away entirely.

Sakura had been right about the stowaways, wrong about the sand people theory.

One of the males groaned and shrank further back, hiding his face behind gold shackles. Sakura's eyes went to what little was left of their clothing and cursed out loud when she recognized the court attire of seraglio boys and the gold ink tattoos.

"Shit."

* * *

Sakura kept her gun close to her hand, set across her lap and she reclined against the base of a ruin while the boys ran out to stretch their legs. The blond one had too much energy and, like a mutt, needed to be walked regularly. She called him mutt in her head, even though he had told her his name after their discovery. She hated to admit how quickly she had forgotten it.

Off to the side the one with teased black hair, styled in a way that set him aside from the common, starving boys, crossed his arms at Mutt's excitement and scowled. Beside him the other dark hair lad smiled in a stiff manner and offered some words of advice? Sakura couldn't read lips, but even if she could she wouldn't have cared enough to eavesdrop.

"Sakura!" the blond screamed for her across the dirt. She tensed on reflex and readied her shotgun, eyes roving behind the vizor she hadn't removed since the day before when she found them.

One of the two boys hit the blond and cursed at him. "You're going to get shot that way."

"What?" Sakura gruffly interjected, standing from her crouch under the shade of the ruined wall.

She kept her gun in hand never the less, just in case they decided they could drive her rig without her. Just because she had let them live and agreed to take them where she was going didn't mean she trusted them to not slit her throat in her sleep. She wished she had Karin with her as a second.

"I'm hungry. When do we get to eat again?" he chirped, sounding more cherry than the other two.

"We just ate."

"Y-yeah, but that was breakfast. What about lunch?" His smile seemed to dim as he looked behind him at the other two only to see their blank stares. There was no back up there. "Whhhat?" he whined, dragging out the sound of the word.

"Where do you think the food is coming from, idiot?" the boy with the chicken butt hair hissed.

"B-but I'm hungry."

The mutt's blue eyes had the audacity to waste water in emotion.

"You should have thought about that before you decided to joyride in the back of my rig for a jaunt." Sakura took a half step back adjusting the weight of her body so that it was more evenly distributed and balanced. She could spring any direction in a moment If she needed to.

The blond looked down, rightly chastised. It was enough to make her almost regret her stern tone, so she looked away, off to where she parked her rig. Shielding her eyes through her visor with a hand above her covered brow she muttered under her breath. "I don't swing by the oasis for weeks. How do you think you'll get back?"

"We're not going back," the last boy stated, hearing her when she was sure none of them would. His words made the others perk up.

"That's what you say," Sakura groused, stalking off towards her rig. The three started to trail after her. "But I've never heard of this Kakashi fellow you're all looking for and I've a living to make. You should have planned better."

"There will be someone who knows. He is skilled. He will find us."

Sakura looked back, trying to match the voice with the face. It was hard to tell them apart sometimes even though they looked so different, but she was sure it was the stupid hair boy that said that last part.

"What the hell are your names again?" she asked, hoping she would remember this time.

"Naruto!" the blond cheered before either of his companions could open their mouths. He jumped up and pointed to the other two. "This is Sasuke!"

"Hn."

"And this asshole is Sai."

"You can call the blonde dickless, he's still a virgin."

The blond turned bright red and started to squawk and yell while Sakura rolled her eyes behind her visor and turned back to her rig, not caring how they treated each other. Sasuke was the first to follow her, but Sai and Naruto were close behind, the latter running ahead of them all.

.

* * *

Sakura kept the bottom part of her mask up as she traded for the food with bullets. She watched the hands of the trader and the hands of his companion.

"Can't say I've heard of a Kakashi, but there are several nomad types that come through here. One eye you say?" The older man with scars down his chin and tattoos down his throat looked back over his shoulder before nodding. "But there are one or two that sound like they could be him. One has a glass eye, blown clean out in a raid, the other has a red colored eye. Accident leaked blood into his eye and it never turned back, or something like that."

"Did either of them come through here recently? He owes me money through a mutual friend and I'm starting to think I got swindled."

"Eh, well the first one with the glass eye goes by the name Hoi and I've not seen him in a year or so. The other freak passed by before the last dust storm and he's pawned things from the aviation boneyard, so that's a good enough guess for where you might find him."

A heavy breeze made Sakura brace, pinning the cloth against the side of her face with her right hand, but it was the hand holding the food and the cloth flew free for a second before she could turn her head back around and hide her chin and lips again.

The desert was in her teeth, small grains just as rough and gritty as the sky. Sakura wanted to spit.

"Damn storms," she cursed, feeling the change coming. She looked back over at the man and nodded. "Boneyard then."

The man grabbed a cloth to wipe over his head, keeping his eyes on her the entire time. "They're both freaks if you ask me. Better off with company that appreciate what they see."

Sakura tensed at the drop in tone and drew faster. The man in the back fell with a hole through his face while the one in front of her reached for her mask, holding a needle thin dagger in the other. Sakura felt the elastic snap as she reeled back and pulled up the butt of her gun to knock across his face. Sakura screamed, bringing her gun down again and again, digging it into the man's skull until it was just as empty as the one she shot.

Heaving a breath, Sakura picked up the gun and box of bullets she had meant to trade before stacking them on top of her food. Her mask was hanging open, but her hands were filled. If someone was alive to see it they might have caught the black ink, but there was only blood and dust behind her.

She climbed back into her rig and deposited her goods on the seat next to her and pulled her vizor back in place, clicking on the secondary attachment that looked like a vulture's beak, hiding the lower half of her face from view.

There was shifting in the back and it was Sasuke that eventually peeked out from the trap in the back floor. "I heard shots. Are you okay?"

"I'm sitting right here. Of course I'm okay." Sakura reached over and grabbed one of the packed nutritional bars wrapped in old paper. "Give this to the mutt if he's still hungry. It tastes like shit and should kill his appetite for a while."

"Doubtful," Sasuke snorted, catching the food with ease.

Before he retreated and closed the latch behind him Sakura caught sight of Sai in the dim, watching her. The door closed but Sai's stare never wavered. Sakura had the suspicion he saw or knew something by the way he stared at her, but then again, he always looked at her like that.

Sakura reattached the wheel and put the gear stick back in place before revving the engine. She started to pull back onto the road but heard a muffled, 'I love you Sakura!' from below the metal.

She grumbled something, making sure her mask was in place before revving and accelerating.

There was plenty of road between here and there.

To the boneyard.

* * *

It was late into the night when she finally pulled over and parked. It was getting too hard to see the road in the moonlight and half her lights didn't work anymore. Sakura turned the seats around and spread out her spare cloak of feathers and cotton, sleeping with her wheel hidden under the cushions of her driver's seat.

Just when she thought she was ready to lay down and sleep the hatch creaked. She growled in warning and the hatch quivered, but raised regardless.

"Sakura?" Naruto whispered. "Are you still awake?"

"What do you need?" she grumbled, pulling her mask back on before sitting up and looking over the edge of the chairs.

"What was the gunshot for?"

"Ignore it. Go to sleep."

The hatch creaked and Sakura sighed, thinking that would be the end of it, but then there was the sound of scampering as Naruto pulled himself out. Sakura reached for the knife under the dashboard and tensed, but Naruto didn't come close enough to stab or attack. He seemed to be sensitive to her need for space. In the moonlight his blond hair seemed silver, and the frown even seemed deeper.

Sakura hated how her heart wrenched a little at the sight of his melancholy. "What?" she hissed, sitting up.

"Is it because of the food, because we ate so much?" he asked.

"Sasuke and Sai don't eat that much, just be clear and ask if it was because of your extra food," Sakura answered.

Naruto flushed, even in the silver light, and teetered from one foot to the other. "Was it because you had to stop for me? Was that the reason?"

Sakura pushed herself up the rest of the way and put the knife back under the dashboard where Naruto couldn't see it. "No, your food actually had nothing to do with it this time. I think I was recognized after asking about your Kakashi friend. You ever hear about an aviation boneyard from him?"

"The gas station?"

That would make sense. Sakura thought back to what she knew about the surrounding area. There were several pit stops one could pull a rig into, and may of them had stations for gas. When she had heard about the aviation boneyard she had forgotten about the gas station it sat next to. It had been dry for a while, and the well it tapped into hadn't functioned in years. When was the last time she tried going that far out of the way?

If she went that far and found no fuel she could be stranded. Losing a rig was second only to death in the wastelands. If she took them there she would need to refuel before, and that meant another venture with a trader who wasn't from the clasp. Anyone else was just as likely to turn her in for her bounty.

"It's a little out of my way and I need to refuel before then, but we'll check it out."

Naruto seemed in inflate with energy. "You will?"

Sakura glared through her mask, forgetting how the gesture was lost on the boy. "Don't keep asking for pit stops. It has already slowed me down more than I think I can make up with your flimsy bracelets."

"Those are gold, though."

Sakura waved a hand between them. "Gold doesn't feed anyone and it doesn't move my rig. Only a few idiots are stupid enough to think it's of any real value in the dead, dry world."

"You sound like one of those old world paladins or a veteran from the first wars."

Sakura raised a brow from under her mask and almost moved it off her face to look at him better. "Excuse me? A paladin? What the hell I look like to you? In case the gun and bloodstains didn't give it away, I'm a criminal, kid."

Naruto seemed to reel at the nickname and pulled himself up. "It's not a stupid guess, and I'm not a kid! Th-there are criminals who used to be important people in the old republics."

"And they're all as young as me?"

"I can't tell how old you are, you're always wearing a mask." He inched closer. "I don't even know what you look like and we've been traveling with each other for _days_ now."

Sakura pulled the knife from under the dashboard out to flip over her wrist and lay across her lap. The handle was the color of bleached bone. "Maybe, but I only pulled you out of my back four days ago. You've been stowing away an addition two. And blame me if you want, but I've learned to not trust anything that moves, even if they are pretty to look at."

There was silence between them for a full minute, full of sixty painful seconds that felt so much longer in the silence. Sakura realized her mistake after about the first half of that minute and panicked for the other thirty seconds. Naruto's blush was back, but this time his eyes seemed to glow with new vibrancy in the moonlight.

"Heh, you think I'm pretty to look at."

Sakura grimaced. "Don't let it go to your head, kid. You're from the president's harem, of course you would be pretty to look at. It's not a big deal."

"Do you like me, Sakura?" Naruto hummed, grinning wide.

It was Sakura's turn to flush. Underneath the mask no one could tell, but when she sputtered she was sure Naruto had an inkling. "Do-I-what a stupid question. Go back to sleep."

Naruto's voice was little different than a song as he rocked back on his heels. "Sasuke is going to be jealous when I tell him you have a crush on me."

Sakura picked up another ration and tossed it at his head. "Go back to bed!" she hissed. She didn't want to ask what he meant about the other boy being jealous-of what?-she just wanted him back down the hatch so she could sleep in peace.

Naruto snickered but did as he was told, scampering back over to the hatch an easing himself back down into the dim cavern below.

* * *

"Let me go with you this time."

Sakura turned around in her sat at glared at Sasuke. "No."

"Let me go."

His face didn't change and his words were just as strong and unyielding. He didn't sound like he would change his mind after hearing her answer just once.

"You look like a skimp. I'm not taking you to the refinery to barter. What do you think you'll do, distract me?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes but quickly turned around and reached out for something left behind in the lower chamber. He pulled out one of her old cloaks with the leather apron front and dropped it over his harem skirt. The gold tattoos were hidden and with a hood even his good face was partly obscured.

"Still no."

Sasuke was pulling on a spare set of boots and reaching for some old gloves. He looked like a mess of random items, and she guessed that's what he really was. He didn't stop assembling accessories even after she told him a second time.

"Sasuke, put that all back. You'll only be a distraction in there. I don't need another liability to look out for."

"Then give me a gun. I can protect myself."

Sakura's voice was shrill in spite of her intentions to remain calm. "No! I don't trust you to not pull it on me."

Sasuke almost looked upset by her reply, which was the first time she saw any other emotion on his face all morning. "We've been traveling almost a week together. What do you mean you don't trust me?"

"Did I stutter, asscheeks? I don't trust you and I don't need to. I don't trust anyone but me." Sakura jabbed her thumb at her own chest and waved her shotgun between them.

Sasuke almost flushed. Almost. "Asscheeks? Where did that come from?"

Sakura rocked back on her heels, crossing her arms. "You bend over in a short skirt and people notice things. Sai was the first one to call you that."

"You were looking at my ass." He said it like he was proud of the accusation.

"You're as bad as Naruto," Sakura hissed. "Go back and wait down below with the others. Or stay up here and guard the rig. I don't care. You're not going in there with me."

Sasuke leaned in closer, eyes narrowed once more. "You're not going in there alone. Last time someone tried to kill you."

"Someone is always trying to kill you in the wilds. What did you think it would be like when you jumped ship from one of the only stable oasis communities in the red world? Brats, all of you!" Sakura reached for the door to her rig, intending to jump down but paused, hand on the handle. "I don't want any more eyes on me. Watch my rig for me, don't let her get picked up. That's how you could help me."

"What if _you_ need help?"

"I've been doing this for years, punk. I've not needed help yet," she lied. There had been plenty of times she needed help and plenty of times she had used help or asked for help. But Sasuke didn't need to know any of that. He was already enough of a brat on his own without the added information.

"How long?" Sasuke asked through narrowed eyes.

"What?"

"How long have you been doing this?"

Sakura felt like she needed to leave. He wasn't going to let her disengage unless she just powered through and ignored all his questions. "I don't know, just years. I've done this long enough to know things. I'll be fine, I'm not buying much. I'm not worth the trouble of messing with."

Sakura turned the handle and opened the door a crack. Sasuke started to move towards her but she pointed the barrels of her gun at him. This only seemed to further provoke him.

"You were nearly shot last time."

"Not even close. I'm not that slow. Back off, watch the rig, keep the others safe."

Sakura pushed open the door and dropped down, feeling the scales of her armor shift and her lower face mask clink in place. She didn't look back, but trusted that the boy in her extra armor would do as she asked.

She heard the door close behind her and it was enough to make her smile when no other footsteps followed her. She crossed the parking lot to the old refinery where kegs and metal barrels were being sold alongside other goods.

As she said it would, the meet went fine and she paid more than it was worth, but got the fuel she needed. When she came back to the rig Sasuke was waiting eager and tense in the driver's seat. He left the rig behind to hop out and meet her, assisting in carrying the barrel to the fuel chamber.

"I told you it would be fine," Sakura said as they closed the hatch behind the barrel.

Sasuke watched her with half lidded eyes until she turned to face him. Then he looked away and muttered under his breath something that sounded like, 'hn.'

* * *

The aviation boneyard was what she remembered it being from years ago. The old flying boats still stuck out of the ground with their wings and tails a broken mess. There was an old substation and the office for the refinery, but no activity.

Naruto ran ahead and Sai hung back when Sasuke took off after the blond.

"What will you do without us?" Sai asked, voice half it's usual volume. He watched her with the same unwavering eyes that seemed to always find her in the dark, even when metal came between them.

"I have work. More deliveries and transportation runs to make on the roads."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Sai asked.

"So is life." Everything in the red world was built up to kill them. Nothing was easy. Danger was everywhere from the dust to her bones to the teeth of the men and women of the road.

"Will you leave us here and go on your own, alone again?" Sai asked. He still watched her and Sakura couldn't help but feel his stare was different than others. He was rude and used the language of an adult, but sometimes he felt like a child beside her.

"Let's see if this Kakashi guy is here first. I'll decide after that." Sakura nodded at the two boys running ahead of them and started to walk. Sai fell into step behind them. It was minutes later, when Sakura was close to the first substation house that she heard Naruto calling for her.

She didn't run, but quickened her pace a bit to follow his trail. Inside the building there was a net filled with boxes, cut open by Sasuke. Naruto waved a note.

"What day is it? What month?"

"Who keeps track of that?" Sai asked, glancing to Sakura.

"It's the middle of the Sick Season. We're a few days away from the Dry Season, and then comes the Storm Season, then the Dust Season."

Each of the seasons lasted 28 days and were named after the 13 evil gods of the old world. Sakura didn't track the days, but the seasons were easy enough to pick out from the stars. Travelers and traders needed to know such things.

"Why do you need to know this?" Sai asked.

Naruto waved the note again. "Kakashi said he would be coming at the end of the Sick Season for us. If we wait we'll meet him. And look, there's food here for us to live on!"

Sasuke was opening a book and skimming the pages. "It's the directions for working the refinery again. Kakashi thinks there's enough to pump." He looked up from the book. "You could help us with this!"

"A pump? Sakura asked, wrinkling her nose. "You don't know if I could do something like that."

"You fix your rig and know more than we do about how machines work. Wouldn't this make you money if you could process your own gas?" Sasuke asked, stepping closer to her with the manual. "Just until the season is over."

He wasn't wrong. Sakura would make more money than she'd know what to do with if she could get the pump working again to pull out her own oil for gas. It would be the thing that frees her from the cycle of poverty and survival. Wasn't that what she dreamed about? That and true freedom.

"Please, Sakura!" Naruto whined. "Without you we'd not make it. Just a little more. Please, it'll be good for you and we'd treasure you. We'd pay you!"

Sai reached out for her hand to hold but didn't say anything. Sasuke offered her the book.

Would the road be enough for her, or was it time to leave it behind?

Sakura reached up with her free hand and found the latch on the side of her mask and helmet. She loosened it and grabbed the underside before pulling the mask up over her face and back across her skull. The stray pink bangs fell across her face again, free from the scalp braids that kept her hair hidden from sight.

Naruto, for once, was speechless.

"Until the season is over," Sakura said, taking the manual in place of her mask.


	17. Mothman parts 1-3

**Mothman**

 **Parts I, II, & III**

* * *

It's not a mattress she's familiar with, she realizes firstly. It's old and has a smell, but is buried under layer after layer of blanket and cloth coverings that the bumps of discomfort from wayward springs are smoothed out.

She's not dead.

That thought runs through her brain next. First it's the mattress, then it's the fact she can feel a mattress at all. She should have been dead. She thought she was dead. How is she not a splattering of blood and bone on the sidewalk of West Virginia?

She rolls onto her side and rights herself, feeling the room spin around her as her brain settles from the motion. The cotton feeling in her throat makes her think she might be dehydrated, and when she swallowed, she remembers trying to hang herself. The bruises are still there.

"Ow," Sakura whispered to herself, hating how it hurt to use her voice.

She had wanted to die, not be inconvenienced by something so trivial. The logic didn't sound sane even in her own ears, but it had been far too long since she sounded sane to herself. Plus, sane people usually didn't try to kill themselves on multiple occasions.

Sakura inhales and hates the rough taste of air in her throat, filling up her lungs. It makes her bend over and cough so hard she's convinced her lungs want to turn themselves inside out. Her throat is raw and she sounds like she's ripping bedsheets as she hacks on her knees, unable to breath.

"Shhhh, water, water, here, drink this."

She hears the voice but doesn't recognize it as something cold is put into her hands. She swallows mouthfuls of water, not caring that a presences far larger than herself looms just behind her shoulder.

Soon the water is gone and she can breath again.

"Slowly now," the voice echoes, tone as soft as felt blankets. "You don't want to rush it."

Sakura turns to see her savior and it's like a curtain snapping up into a roll, the figure is gone, flashing out of sight into more darkness.

"Wait!" Sakura cries, voice so horse and raw it sounds barely like words when she speaks. "Wh-who?"

She hears him making sounds of nervousness, of blundering and tripping over objects as he darts away again, keeping out of sight.

"Please," Sakura tries again. "I'm not going to hurt you, I'm not dangerous. I just want to know who you are and what I'm doing here. I don't remember anything."

"You jumped."

The voice is behind her in the shadows where there are only rafters to the loft below. Sakura stands and approaches the railing looking down and seeing no one.

"I don't understand how I got here though. I shouldn't have…survived that."

"It's because you jumped! You jumped right out and I caught you and kept you from being blood on their shoes. I took you here, I did. You slept."

Sakura ignored the part of her that was annoyed at being alive still. "Why would you do that? Who are you? Do I know you?"

She hears skittering and then air moving as the voice comes from somewhere new in the dim of the room. "Why would _I_ do that?" His tone is incredulous, turning sharp. "Why would _you_ do _that_?"

Sakura hears more fluttering and something is knocked over followed by panicked hushing sounds.

"I don't-"

"You almost died!" the voice interrupts her, sounding pained in a way Sakura can't understand. "You-you wanted to die and you almost did. I wa-I-you couldn't expect me to just watch that. I had to do something, so I brought you here, to this place that's sometimes my home. It's not far but not close and you shouldn't leave if you're just going to do that thing again."

"You talk like you know me. Do you?"

Sakura's eyes are beginning to better adjust to the dim around her, and she can begin to make out the outline of a hulking form bent over itself. Whatever it was, it wasn't human and it didn't want to be seen.

"You don't know me," the voice called out to her, sounding smaller than before, maybe hesitant.

Sakura swallowed, throat still sore, but not hurting like it had before the water. "But you still saved me. Thanks. It might not have been what I wanted at the time, but I wanna say I'm thinking clearer now."

The hulking figure almost stood up, but retracted just as fast, bumping into something and almost knocking it over. Sakura thought she saw wings in the dark behind his shoulders.

"Is there a reason you don't want me to see you?" she called out to it.

"I'll scare you."

She shrugged in reply. "Maybe, but I almost died and you saved me, so I think I'll be fine. I want to see your face. Will you let me?"

When he didn't immediately reply she started to take steps forward, stopping only when it caused him to scramble behind a wall and hide more fully. "No, no, no, no, not here, not like this. I don't want you to be scared of me."

Sakura kept advancing. "I won't be, I promise. And even if I am, I'll pretend I'm not, but really, how bad could it be?"

"Everyone is always scared."

Sakura jogged into the dark and stubbed her toe, cursing at the impact. There were boxes on the floor she hadn't see. She staggered to find her balance again, grabbing onto a shelf bolted to the wall that gave out once she puts weight on it. She shrieked, starting to fall, only for arms as warm and soft as felt to grab her from behind and lift her to safety. This time Sakura turns around and makes her arms a lasso around his neck, trapping him.

"No!"

He squeaks, burying his face in her side, even though it's almost twice as large as a normal head, though that's mainly due to the soft bristle of what feels like either fur or feathers under her hand. When he ducked she caught the brief glint of his eyes reflecting light with a red glare.

"You saved me again," Sakura said, voice almost a coo.

"Do-don't look at me, I'll scare you!"

"I'm not scared, and you're already holding me." Sakura moved her hands around his neck, using her knuckles to feel for where it would tickle. It made her grin to feel him shiver. "Come on, I won't be scared, promise. What's your name anyway? I'm Sakura."

Slowly, ever so slowly, the creature holding her in his arms raised his face and Sakura grinned when she saw how sheepish his eyes could be.

"S-Sh-Shino, but they all call me something else, mostly."

"Shino."

She didn't miss the way his body flinched when she called him that, or how it heated when she brought her face closer with the first real smile to sit on her lips in a long, long time.

"You're cute."

* * *

Mirai runs a hand through her dark brown pixie length hair and frowns at the sound. The window has been creaking lately, but that shouldn't be something to worry about when there's no wind. She should probably tell her mom, but it really wasn't worth the effort of getting up and-

Someone steps through the window, proving the creaking isn't from the wind.

It's dusk and that can only mean one thing.

"Mom, he's here! Mom, mom, mom, mom he's shhhhh-he's here!" she panics in a dizzy, unable to hide her smile. "Offering, offering, where is it. He wants food, mom!"

Mirai runs to the room he always appears in with her arms full of food they offer to their protector. He doesn't come often, but when he does they always try to offer him the best.

Kurenai meets her daughter in the hallway with a frown and catches a bag of red tea before it can tumble to the ground out of the handful of goods. Unlike her daughter, the giddy excitement is long gone. She's been feeding the mothman for decades now.

"He's not going to run away without the food, you can cool your heels," Kurenai sighs, following her teenage daughter up into the attic room reserved for his visits.

"He's not been by in a while, i was afraid he would stop."

"I had hoped he would, he deserves to move on," the older woman says, tired from more than just age. Kurenai only manages a smile when her daughter whines at her words.

"No, he's the coolest, I don't want him to move on."

"He won't." Kurenai closes her eyes and takes a long breath, hand on the handle. "Even though he should. Come on."

They enter and he's there, in the shadows, pressed up to the walls where he can make himself a part of the room. You wouldn't see him if you didn't look or know to look.

"You're here," Mirai exclaims. "We have your offerings, protector!"

"You don't seem to want to be here for them though," the mother teases, sounding too much like a gruff old woman who doesn't know how to display affection. "You plan on actually sticking around for a while or just taking the food and running?"

There is a moment of pause before the figure moves to speak. "I-I don't need the food this time. Bu-but I need your help. Please."

Mirai's eyes go wide even as her mother stills with worry.

"Of course we'll help you! You've done so much for us, what do you want?"

"White Castle."

The dread drains to disbelief.

"What?" Mirai and her mother echo together.

"It's not for me, but my girlfriend. It's her favorite and I want to bring her some, but I can't….order like this." He spreads his arms and the inhuman shape of his body is just barely visible.

Kurenai feels a fierce smile force her lips wide in a way that's been nearly forgotten. She smiles wide and pushes herself forward in delight.

"Girlfriend? You have a girlfriend!"

Shino reacts viscerally, shivering so hard he ruffles all over and changes color, no longer blending into the wall. He is a mess of shifting images and patterns across his wings and he's shaking as he hides his face in his hands.

"Do-do-don't s-s-s-a-saa-aay it like that," he whines, fighting to regain control of himself. "Ye-y-yes."

 _'It's finally happen, my baby has grown up,'_ the mother thinks to herself, while remembering when Shino was smaller and not nearly so brave as to open himself up to someone.

"What's she like?" Mirai asks, peppering him with a dozen other questions about her hair and age and where they met.

"She's-she's sleeping a lot and isn't feeling well and I just wanted to get her White Castle and cheer her up. C-can you please order for me?"

"Of course, but on one condition," she begins. "You have to tell me _everything_."

* * *

"You know, mostly people have these things because they want to appear needlessly cool and hip. I don't know very many people who actually collect records for any other reason."

Shino shifted nervously as her long, thin fingers flipped through the different record covers.

"It's still not for listening," Shino muttered over her shoulder. "Here, look."

Sakura moved to the side as he switched the power on and set the speed. The record wobbled on the spinner but began to turn all on it's own. The needle had been jammed or damaged at some point, so even though it rested in the cradle, the player spun as soon as it had power.

Shino leaned even closer and pulled out one of his hands with fingers tipped into points that could be deceptively soft when he wanted them to be. Shino paused before lowing a single finger onto the record, mimicking the point of the needle that read the scratches and made music out of them.

Sakura almost jumped when she heard the humming that came from Shino's body. He seemed content with his eyes shut and body ruffled. The longer she watched him the more he seemed to expand as the tight folds of his wings lifted off his body and the fur around his neck prickled. There was no music, but the vibrations from the record player made a pleased hum deep in his throat that echoed in the open space around them.

He looked so happy from such a simple thing it made Sakura's lips curve all on their own. She must have laughed or maybe chuckled because Shino's eyes opened and he found her still kneeling down by his calves. He bent down and offered her his free hand with a smile of his own. Sakura took it without hesitation.

Tony Bennett spun on the record player but Sakura couldn't hear anything as she grabbed his hand and shivered under the vibrations that washed through his body. She almost laughed but didn't have the voice for it. The way sound shook her in small and tickling ways made her pleased almost as much as his hand holding hers.

"Oh, this is my favorite one," Shino said, pulling away to turn the record over to the B side.

Sakura saw the first track listed and smiled again, since it was possibly the only Tony Bennett song she knew the words to. She had been raised more on Fleetwood Mac and Pink Floyd than Frank Sinatra and those old school croners crowned in Las Vegas lights. Still, a soft spot in her heart existed for Blue Velvet.

Sakura took his hand again as soon as it was free and she heard as much as felt his happy chirp from the contact. It had taken some time to get this close and she wasn't ready to give it up for anything.

"Hold me," she whispered, not knowing if he would hear her.

Shino knelt down so that his face was beside hers and she grinned when she caught her face reflected in his eyes. His hearing was better than anyone's and he always listened.

She should have known better.

"I am holding you," he said with a touch of amusement in each of his words.

Sakura dropped his hand and held up her arms to wrap around his neck and he pulled her in with his newly freed arm as the vibrations of 'Blue Velvet' traveled through their bodies. She kissed the fur under his jaw and laughed at the way his whole body ruffled for her.

"Thank you," she sighed. Her whole body went slack against his, all her defenses were down and she could have fallen asleep if she was tired enough.

"For what?"

"For everything."

The feather touch of his antennae tracing her cheekbone made her turn further into his neck and giggle. His wings folded around them, a silken cocoon.

"Of course, Sakura. Of course," he said. Shino's antennae tickled the nape of her neck. "I should be the one thanking you. I'm happy now."

"You weren't happy before?"

They both knew what sort of state she had been in when he caught her and brought her to the rafters of his hide out, but she hadn't know much about his disposition before their meeting.

"I didn't know I could be. This is…new for me. I hadn't known that I was capable of feeling such tenderness. I feel like I have a raw heart of flesh in my chest that's so thin and soft it throbs from the simplest things."

Sakura swallowed as a thrill of fear made her heart falter through an unsteady beat. "Sorry. That doesn't sound like fun."

"It's the most fun," Shino laughed. "I can feel so many new things and I've never felt so alive. Like these vibrations, each jolt pleases me immensely."

Sakura poked her head up out of the fur of his neck. "What makes your heart jolt?" she asked, voice as coy as her half lidded eyes and playful lashes.

The feathery touch of his antennae traced around her neck to the underside of her jaw and then she felt his mouth there, leaving a kiss as soft as down feathers.

"Your voice," he kissed her throat. "Your eyes," he kissed the ridge of her cheekbone. "Your hands when they hold mine." He pulled one of her hands up to his face to kiss the inside of her palm, almost reverently. "Your heart, your kindness, your mind, and all of you. Everything about you makes everything about me tingle. My heart hasn't stopped hammering since I first laid eyes on you, my dear."

Sakura sighed, feeling her bones turn to honey at his words. "I love you too, Shino."


	18. Secret Safe with Me

**"Your secret is safe with my indifference."**  
 **Sakura/Toneri**

* * *

He had come in, confessed, and promptly started bawling. It was not how Sakura thought their first meeting of the day would go.

She rolled here eyes. "Your secret is safe with my indifference, Love."

The boy with hair as white as his irises looked up and sniffed loudly around the tear stains on his face. "No it's not, you'll tell them."

She winced at the shrill tone. "While it is true that both your cousins are my near and dear friends, I never had any plans on mentioning anything that happened between us with them. They've made it quite clear how grossed out it would make them feel."

"You always told them stuff you never told me, why is this any different?" He asked, looking away. He seemed unable to meet her eyes.

Sakura sighed deeply and ran a hand through what she could find of her pulled back hair. It was neatly braided and held in place with decorations galore.

"I didn't honestly think it was an important enough deal to mention to either of them, but even if it was, I would have honored your wishes. We're getting married, after all."

Her hair was as lovely as Ōtsutsuki clan hands could make it, but the rest of her was in a casual robe and slippers.

She lowered her voice and reached for his hand, rubbing a circle into the skin on the back of his wrist. "I'm not going to let them tease you for asking for this. It's nothing to be ashamed of. I'm glad you told me if it really bothered you so much you felt like you had to keep it hidden."

Toneri's cheeks flushed. "I'm not ashamed, I just…started to feel insecure and was worried you might not really be as…as interested as the letters said you were. I asked for this union even though I knew you didn't see me that way. You liked someone else."

Sakura blinked. "I do?"

At her tone he looked up as well.

"This is the first time I'm hearing about it," Sakura said. "Who did you think I liked?"

"Cousin A-Ashura said you and he were…and it looked like…" his words trailed off.

Sakura fall back into the chair and deflated. "That goof ball. He's messing with you, dear, nothing more. You've never asked for anything in your life, have you?" She almost smiled at the words.

"I've asked for plenty…just….never against my father's wishes."

Sakura nodded. "You were supposed to marry my friend Hinata but you're here, stuck with me."

Toneri surged forward onto his knees, grasping her hands. "That's not it at all, I begged for this. I never thought of it as being stuck if I was with you. I'm sorry and you can hate me if you actually love my cousin, but please forgive me for being selfish. I do love you, Sakura. You've been so kind to our family for so many years and I couldn't bear it if you were to suddenly not be there anymore."

Sakura suddenly felt warm with shame. She hadn't taken the 'kid' seriously. She accepted because it would be a good union for their families and because it didn't make a difference to her who she married. She had been a bit curt with him when they met in the past few weeks leading up to the wedding. He probably thought she hated him. No wonder he was bawling only moments earlier. Oh, she could be an idiot sometimes.

"Please don't leave and please don't tell Ashura I asked father for this."

Sakura pulled him up and grabbed his face in both hands. She shook him until his eyes met hers and she she leaned forward. He melted under the kiss.

"Don't worry, love, your secret is safe with me."


	19. Dream Sweet

**Dream Sweet in Sea Major**

 **KiriSaku**

* * *

She hadn't meant to swim so close, but man's world was a lure in her throat she couldn't pull free from. She was weak to it's thrilling call, seductive and mysterious with lights and smells and sights. But, just like a lure, it proved to be her doom.

It was in the harbor she came back to consciousness, naked in the mess of open bodies, left cold from the night. The net she had been left to dry in was slashed in parts, but her new ankles stayed tangled in the twine, leaving her half in and half out. Moving felt like dying, ever shift of her new legs was against invisible knives, but Sakura moved to free herself from the knots before whatever came to feed on the fishermen came back for her.

Nothing simple had open the bodies like ripe oranges. They had been peeled open with long claws and savage jaws. It was their own fault for fishing horrors out of the deep. More than one tank had been smashed and drained back into the sea. There were two other nets that had been heavy with body when she had been first brought into the wherehouse over the docks, but they now hung empty.

The last tug around her ankle came undone and Sakura fell the three feet to land in a damp clump on the stained floorboards. She smelled of brine, but now there was blood in her long pink hair she could inhale the scent of. Maybe it was supposed to be disgusting, but it was a smell from the world of man's world and she was a babe to it.

Sakura stood, cried silently, and walked to the nearest crate, away from the hole in the floor that led back to the waves. It was pain to move on legs, but she knew the transition back would be just as painful and ten times more emotionally draining. She finally had a chance on land, she wanted to take it.

There was a room off to the side decorated with fish plaques and posters. It was a sort of waiting room for workers. She saw the lewd books left behind and the ash tray for cigarettes. There were lockers too, just like the ones sunk in ships. She reached for one but it refused to pry open. Gripping again, she thought about the strength she needed and yanked hard. The metal came apart on a whine, tearing off its hinges. Inside there were work shoes, too big, trousers, also too big, and a pair of white teeshirts.

She ripped apart the other two lockers before finding something sparkling in the last one. She pulled it out and laid it over her naked chest. It was a sequined costume. She looked up and saw a woman wearing something similar, kicking high in the air and smiling wide. It was the only thing that would fit her, but that didn't matter because it sparkled. Sakura pried it open and dragged it over her body, wincing when her legs moved into the holes made for them.

It took time, but after a while she stood again, swaying only slightly, and moved on. She saw her reflection in the glass of a window and smiled, stretching her mouth wide to match the woman in the poster's expression. It wasn't quite right and she couldn't exactly pin down why.

'I don't know enough,' she thought to herself, turning away from the glass and searching for a body. There were plenty left behind from the mess, but she didn't know how useful their bits would be. The dying always had more to glean than the dead.

There was a man torn open close to the work room that Sakura sat down next to. She pulled his head onto her lap and sighed before bending over his dead expression and inhaling what was left of his evanescence. As she expected, it came out thin and weak, but at least there was something for her to swallow. She sucked the white ghost of his knowing down, seeing his sights, hearing his thoughts, feeling his past. She got fragments, but it was enough to learn from.

Sakura drank the knowing from two other men until she had to stop at one and wrinkle up her nose at what he discovered. She was wearing a whore's costume-one that belonged to a girl the dead man apparently hired on the regular. It made her peel off the garment's sparkling top and ripped away what was left of the costume. Sakura learned the meaning of burlesque and wine. She saw faces too, important faces.

There was too much to learn. The more she drank from the bodies the more questions she was filled with. She saw speakeasies and fire, she saw monsters and war. She saw a demon or god, standing above it all and laughing at the ants that ran and killed for his amusement. She saw ages. She saw time pass. She saw the gods pass on, his chaos growing in his absence.

Killjoy used to be called something else, but even before the cull of man and rise of monsters, it had always been a cesspool for sin. It had always been a place of adventure and fright.

"That's what they were doing here," Sakura said aloud, only to wince at the feel of blood in her throat. Ow. It hurt to speak, she had forgotten that.

The wars raged on between different factions. This particular faction hoped to capture something ancient and powerful to tip the scales in their favor. Whatever they had drudged up was too powerful to be tamed. Sakura counted eight dead bodies, including the one on her lap.

If Sakura stayed she would only get caught up in the chaos of Killjoy's turf wars. It would be hard to avoid it, seeing as how the town fell to monsters decades ago.

"Damn, I can smell it from here."

Sakura looked up sharply, hearing the voice that clearly wasn't dead. There was someone still alive in the facility, or maybe they were just finally coming into the warehouse.

Did she hide, did she confront them? Would they think she did this? Would they care? What if they were the people who pulled her out in the first place and hung her out to dry? Should she have slipped into the waters when she had a chance.

Sakura tried to, but when she moved to stand her legs failed her. She tried again but the collapsed like jelly and sticks. Her heart hammered in fear as she watched to see if scales would sprout, but her legs remained whole and intact. She looked human, but why wouldn't her legs work for her, and why were they shaking so terribly when she tried to run?

With no other choice, Sakura crawled away from the body, intent on hiding behind a crate when her arms wobbled too and she fell on her chest. Her whole body was shaking and it was only a minute later when she realized why.

'I'm afraid.'

The door opened and Sakura turned to it, tears leaking from her eyes like saltwater only to see a figure as unnatural as she, standing there. He was tall, fit with a powerful feature, shark black eyes and the skin of a finfolk. He was tinted head to toe with bluish gray skin, coloring even his hair. He took in the carnage but his eyes froze on her.

He didn't move, didn't stir. He didn't even blink as time stretched between them.

Her mind was a mess of insults dismissing her as nothing more than a foolish pip in the ocean. How could she have been so stupid? She should have swam away while she had the chance.

"Kisame, what the hell are you doing, taking so long?" a new voice called out, followed by the lumbering body of a shorter man with ash gray skin and dark charcoal hair. The new man stopped behind Kisame and shoved him aside, only to pause at the sight.

" _Shit_."

Sakura grabbed at the floor and pulled herself up, eyes turning to the hole in the floor where all the ocean sank. She made it two drags before she heard the footsteps behind her. Before they could reach for her she turned over and held her hands out, ready to fight them off.

"Oi, oi, hey!" the blue one was bumbling with something long and green, the trench coat he had been wearing. He held it out like a net, ready to trap her again and she swiped at it.

"Shitface, don't be soft," the other snapped, shoving Kisame aside and tearing the trench coat away. "She thinks it's a net."

"It's not, she's naked!"

"She's also a dreg. We should just let her go." He turned back and looked at her, almost glaring. "She's feral by the looks of it. Did you forget we have work to do?"

Kisame frowned, grabbing his coat back and yanking it back when his partner wouldn't release it right away. "Don't be a dick about it, Zabuza. I know what we came for. You're more than enough to work over the pieces."

The man called Zabuza grunted and then nodded. He looked back over at Sakura and then turned on his heel, hiking up his shoulders as he stalked. Sakura got the impression of a barracuda slithering through the waters.

"D-don't mind him. He doesn't think well of anyone." Kisame folded his coat over his arm, moving slowly. "Do you…need help getting back to the water?"

Sakura paused, not knowing if she should reply or not, but ultimately shook her head and turned back to her dragging. The rest of her still shook too much to stand.

Kisame stayed where he stood, watching her go and making no move to stop her. She looked back once, just to check, but he didn't seem to move as he watched her struggle. There was an odd way to his expressions. It was hard to tell what they were, since so much of his face was angles and glare. He had the eyes of a shark and those were always hard to read.

Sakura reached the edge of the broken floor, where the floorboards cracked and rad down into the shallow waters. There wasn't a lot, but it would be enough to swim in and make it back to her ocean.

She gripped the side of the hole and slid down the broken planks, bracing for the sting of the saltwater, knowing it would hurt to melt her legs into a tail again. She hit the water and sank down to her neck, pushing herself the rest of the way underwater, only to struggle. She pushed herself deeper, feeling a pinch in her chest, but no scales bloomed and her toes still wiggled as she kicked in the water. Her legs were still there, her body was still human. The pinch in her chest was her need for air.

She wasn't transforming.

Why?

Hadn't the two other mermaids caught been able to return to the sea? They were gone when she woke up, so she assumed they had made it safely back, but Sakura was still drowning. When it got to be too much she pumped her arms and broke the surface, grabbing for the splintered wood and pulling herself up.

"You okay?"

She looked up and saw Kisame staring down at her. He was frowning, but she didn't know if he was scowling or not.

Not knowing if her voice would be able to come out for him, she shook her head, the shorter strands of her hair slapping her in the face. The rest of it floated around her shoulders in the water.

"You can't go back?" he guessed.

Sakura made a strangled sound, feeling panic bloom in her heart next to those treacherous lungs that refused to work underwater. She was supposed to transform back. She was supposed to be able to go back home. Why couldn't she? Had they done something to her while she had been asleep? Had stealing the evanescence of the dead done it to her? It shouldn't have. Mermaids stole the evanescence of drowned sailors all the time. Some were even dead when she stole from them.

"You're still there?" The voice of Zabuza came from somewhere Sakura couldn't see.

"Shut it, she needs help!" Kisame snapped back, voice sharp and raised in anger. The gills on his neck flared.

Zabuza approached the edge and looked down, seeing her predicament. "They took her Seaheart."

"What?" Kisame raised a single brow.

Zabuza growled, waving his hands as if he wanted to dump her out of them. "They were after her magic, and it looks like they managed to extract it. It's common practice these days since the tail eating takes so much work. Don't look at me like that, you know the old stories."

"What's going to happen to her?" Kisame asked, stepping back from the edge to better see where she drifted.

"She'll try to go back and drown herself. She can't help it since she's bound by the call of the ocean, regardless of her form." He waved his hand again. "Let her go. You're worse than a human with these things."

But Kisame knelt down and swung his legs over the side and slid down into the water. It didn't seem to bother him or react to him in any odd way. The other man called out to him once, cursed loudly, and then started to wander away, out of sight.

"See if I care when she bites out your throat for touching her. She's feral."

Kisame hesitated at the edge of where the wood ended inside the water. He held onto the edge of it and extended his hand. He didn't reach for her, but waited.

"I'm not going to hurt you. Bad men did this to you. I'd like to help you if you let me. I…I don't think you're as stupid as he says you are. Don't try to go back or else you'll drown."

Sakura made a strangled noise and hit the water with her fist, eyes glistening with her own tears. She could feel her cheeks heat with all the pain she felt in her heart. She wanted to speak and talk and run and hide from this feeling, but she was just so scared. She couldn't even stand, much less talk in this distressed state.

"I know, I know you want to go home. I believe you, but you can't do that without dying and you're smarter than that, so don't throw yourself away. I'm Kisame by the way. I'm not one of the fishermen-those are the guys who dragged you out. I'd like to help you if you let me."

Sakura looked up, almost moving towards him.

"Your Seaheart, we could look for it. I know where they would sell a thing like that. People would want it for the immortality of it. We'd help you get it back."

'Why?' That didn't sound like an easy thing to do. Why would he want to help her.

"Please," Kisame implored her once more. "I know what it's like to be left behind and left alone. You're scared but that's okay. I won't hurt you. Please trust me, okay?"

He wasn't human. His skin wasn't like the skin of the men who took her, pulled her out of the ocean and rubbed their hands down her tail. He was something else, he was one of the old ones who had blood from the old world in him, anyone could see that much.

But was that enough to trust him?

'What choice do you have?'

Sakura held one arm over her chest and reached for him with the other one. He took her hand and pulled her close, up out of the water before throwing his green trench coat around her. She shivered, wet in the open air and he ran his hands over her arms, creating friction.

"Can you speak?" he asked, still rubbing her down.

Sakura thought about lying, but ended up nodding for him before lifting up two fingers together. She made a motion like she was squeezing something between them. 'Little' the hand sign meant.

"It hurts, doesn't it…? You're not used to it cause your vocal cords are all wrong for this sort of thing. Don't worry about it, I have a feeling you're smarter than he says you are. When you can, tell me your name."

He pulled her up the broken floor and held her when she started to fall on unsteady feet. It wasn't because she was scared anymore. Her legs were just weak from the newness of being. She could walk, but it was odd and uneven. She ended up falling against his side more than once.

"Here."

He reached down and pulled her to him before tilting her sideways, then lifting up. Sakura made a noise and reached for his neck, grabbing for it to steady herself. He chuckled at her reaction, but carried her around like she weighted nothing. Considering the size difference, she likely did weigh nothing to him.

"You're brining it with us?" Zabuza asked in annoyance, watching as Kisame walked past with the squirming bundle in his arms. "I'm telling you now this is a bad idea. Put it back and let nature be sated."

"No. Now, mind your own business."

Zabuza growled, but didn't say anything more. Without further complaint, the shorter of the two fell into step behind Kisame and followed the blue man out of the back of the warehouse to the main entrance where a door was left open to the road. Parked half on the sidewalk was an automobile they had left in a hurry.

Zabuza stopped to watch as Kisame opened the backseat door and held it open with his knee before sliding her in. Closing the door he rounded the car to slip into the driver's seat. Sakura sat up in her seat and stared out the window at Zabuza while Kisame turned over the engine from the front, watching the road. With his attention caught, Sakura stuck her tongue out at Zabuza before sliding down in her seat and curling up.

' _Not so feral, am I_?'

* * *

Bonus

Keeping the mermaid child was an issue, but Kisame knew it wouldn't be a major one. Other members kept women on the side for fun all the time. He should be allowed to share his room with a creature in pain and need.

That's what he thought, anyway.

"What the hell?" Mei sneered, bright eyes shinning like daggers as she looked down at the girl still in Kisame's arms, now half asleep from the car ride. "No. The answer is no."

"Finally," Zabuza breathed, leaning back against the wall and crossing his arms. "At least someone here has some damn sense."

Mei glared at the shorter male and then fixed her eyes once more on the girl. "You're not going to keep her in your room like some cheep call girl. She may not look like a child, but she's just as innocent out of the waters and I won't have anyone taking advantage of her while she's here. I'll take her. She'll have her own room and we'll get the brat to hire a tutor or something for her until we can help her get back home."

"What? You're letting her stay?" Zabuza gasped, leaning off the wall and dropping his arms.

Mei placed her hands on her hips and the full intensity of her glare was focused on Zabuza. "No girl, woman, or creature gets taken advantage of in my house. Do I make myself clear?"

"No one would want to," Zabuza grunted. "It's too much work. Throw her back in the water with the lame catch."

"You're heartless," Kisame bit over his shoulder, scowling at his friend.

"It's not that simple," Mei added. "She's not a fish, she's not just a mermaid either. You think they all look like that when they dry out? Look at her coloring. She's highborn, one of the fair breeds, and she reeks of the deep waters." Mei reached for a strand of the limp girl's hair and twirled it between two fingers, watching how it reflected light and shone. "Damn if she wasn't bioluminescent with a fishtail."

"She's staying though, that doesn't change?" Kisame repeated, words slow and hopeful.

"Obviously. Now, where is Yagura? He was supposed to report in before any of you came back but he's still burning the town? I'm going to have words with that brat." Mei turned sharply and face the door. "Cho-cho!"

Moments later a small blue haired boy peaked his head in and gulped. "It's Chōjūrō,"

"Cho-cho, go get a guest room prepped in the same wing as mine. It's for a girl so don't slack off. I need it now."

"N-n-now?" Chōjūrō squeaked, eyes going wide.

"Yeah, just prep it real quick, that's one of your jobs, yeah; maid service." Mei turned to look at Zabuza. "Are you still dressing Haku like a girl? Let us borrow some of his old dresses."

"They're not dresses, and he wasn't dressing like a girl, he just naturally looked feminine in anything robe like." Zabuza looked away to avoid offending her with his glare. "Plus, he's out with Yagura, so I have no way of getting his things or knowing where he keeps them."

"Then go shopping."

Mei sweetly coos, knowing the blush on Zabuza's face will inspire him to get creative in Haku's room all for the sake of avoiding a trip out in public for lady things.

"She's pretty out of it, but she might wake up soon," Kisame said, watching her stir and then cuddle closer in his arms. He didn't want to admit to anything for fear of having to let go of her sooner. It was nice to carry a cute girl around for a change.

"Don't count on it. She lost her magic, she'll be pretty lethargic for days. Some creatures never recover from something like that, some die in the first week. I don't want to scare you, and I swear we'll do everything we can, but don't get too attached so soon, Fish Face. She might not pull through."

"You said she was special though."

"Which makes the loss all the more painful." Mei frowned looking down at the girl again. "But I think she'll pull through if she was able to walk and talk with you. She seems like it. Either way, we'll have someone keep an eye on her for when she wakes."

"You want us to do anything else about the raid?" Zabuza asked, sounding grumpier than usual.

"No, the others are out and will deal with it. You've done well, boys, go rest. Kisame, find where Cho-cho is setting up the room and help him out, will you?"

Helping meant putting her down and Kisame didn't think he was ready for that, but he nodded anyway and left.

* * *

 **Dream Sweet**  
 **Part 2**

 **YaguSaku**

* * *

When considering traditional standards of beauty or masculine charm, the features that made Yagura recognizable were not often considered. A notable scar below the one eye, irises colored bleeding pink, and a diminished stature that confused him with children if viewed from behind. No, Yagura was not what tradition would call beautiful, but he was other things.

Among those things he was old, considerably old, and in all the years of his long existence he had learned how to be. He knew what angles worked for him, what lighting suited his features, and how to lower his tenor to a velvet edged voice that could turn razor sharp in a second. He knew how to hold himself, how to dress himself, how to carry himself. He knew his worth and his worth was pretty damn high. The world was meant for him and was his. He acted as haughty as he pleased and the world slid right into his palm.

It gave him no little delight to be proven time and time again that the world was his to manipulate and take from as he pleased. The woman in the doorway seemed to do nothing more than stoke his already engorged ego.

There was blood across the floor and a dead hand under the toe of his designer shoes. Yagura leaned his head to the side and lowered his lids before lifting a rolled cigarette to his lips and cupping the end. A small burn of red and the end caught and began to smoke.

With the toe of his shoe he poked under the dead hand and kicked it up so it flopped back down onto the face of the corpse just as he took a long drag to exhale in semi dramatic fashion. The woman in the doorway didn't move, and her eyes were still glued in appreciation to his figure even though half the other employees were scared and hiding.

"That's enough for now," he said to the other boys, turning away so the tail ends of his jacket flapped like a cape behind him. It made his walk all the more purposeful as he walked past the hungry woman and left her wanting. He didn't even glance her way as he called out to the boys behind him.

"I think they got the message here. We'll be back in the hour though if they step into our turf again."

"You think we needed to leave so few alive?" Haku asked in a clear voice that reminded Yagura of the ice.

"Ao?" Yagura grunted before exhaling smoke again.

Ao came up behind Hake and purposefully stopped to turn and look behind them before pulling his gun out from the front breast pocket of his gray pinstripe. He aimed in less than a second and recoiled only slightly when the shot rang out and sank into the woman in the doorway's forehead.

Slowly, purposefully, Ao put his gun away and reached for his hat instead. The rack had all their hats, as well as a few others that would never be worn by their owners again.

Yagura fit his fedora and pulled the front down low over his eyes before stepping out. A thin mist had settled and every so often the rain would come and wet the world further. It was perfect weather and the Mizu boys were all the stronger for it.

Haku begrudgingly followed his betters out and kept his head down, least his questions lead to more avoidable bloodshed. One woman was too risky to leave alive if she sported a handgun in the belt on her thigh? Apparently.

Ao drove, but Yagura rode from the backseat and was the real directioner for their group. If he didn't want to go back to Mei's place than they didn't have to. She was technically their boss and really the only person that could handle Yagura enough to boss him into doing things for her.

It didn't take long before they were back in the circle outside the estate. Before the rain could let up the trio exited their car and made it inside where the redhead of thought showed herself.

"And?" she asked, brandy tumbler in hand and eyes expectant. "How did it go?"

"As expected."

"How many loose ends?" she asked, lips on the rim. Ao moved to stand close to her nearly behind her.

"Around four or seven. We shot the mole from the gentleman's club."

"I knew you would," Mei sighed, shaking her head almost fondly. "I won't ask why or bore myself with the details. Say what you have to say and move on. I have my own business to attend to."

Yagura paused. "Your own…what?"

He was being brushed off.

"There has been a development and I am putting more of my efforts into rooting out the black market dealers in the Barren District. They've been…concerning me after tonight."

"Why. They're of no consequence to us."

Her back was to him as she looked to the far wall where a map of the districts was drawn up and put in simple black ink on tempered rice paper. "Someone claimed they were selling mermaid tail again."

"Tragic. Since when were we bleeding hearts?" He reached to light another white cigarette but kept his hands from reaching, knowing Mei didn't like the smoke in her presence. She hated the smell, too.

"They've been on my nerves even without this last incident. They've become emboldened and tried to bring in what they shouldn't have from the deep places. They mess with the ancient things and they will feel a swift and just wrath." Mei looked away from the map and glared at something on the desk. "I don't want to be swept up in their undertow when justice comes calling for them."

He frowned and almost glared at the women he considered too hesitant to take on an entire district in management. He almost regretted sleeping for the last thirty years and leaving the position of leadership vacant for whoever could grab it best. He had no desired to be in charge again, the responsibility was too burdensome and he enjoyed his freedom too much to chain himself to an idea, but Mei irked him. She settled under his scales the wrong way.

"Are you planning on involving myself and the others in these concerns or do you still want me gone?" Yagura asked, shifting the weight of his body from one leg to the other. He was ready to move one way or the other, not that he cared.

Mei turned back to look at him and the red of her hair flickered brilliantly as it reflected the healthy glow of the nearby fire. There was a crackle of charred wood breaking down between them before she found the words she wanted and nodded. "No. You may go. These matters need not concern you. I apologize for keeping you longer than need be. You may do as you please."

He was dismissed so easily. She could have, but she didn't ask for his help, even after he brought it up. Could she really be so foolish to ignore his aid?

Fine.

"As you say," he muttered curtly before turning on his heel and making for the exit.

Yagura slept for a day or two, longer than usual, and woke feeling a bit less confrontational, but not fully rested. There was still a beast inside him that wasn't done pacing. His agitation took him down to the garage.

"I'm sorry, but the car is out," Suigetsu said, meekly ducking into his shoulders as he tried to shrink.

"What do you mean the car is out? Who took my car?"

It wasn't really his car, but no one would dare touch it without him and he had come to grow found of the automobile. No one had ever taken it on their own before. It was unexpected.

"S-sorry sir. Um, Mei told Haku to take Sakura out shopping for some clothing supplies and other needs."

He blinked only once in the silence between them. "…Who?"

"Oh, it was Haku."

"No, who did Haku take out? I know who Haku is you dolt."

"Sakura?" The younger boy's fear didn't fade, but Yagura watched as it faded into something more relaxed as Suigetsu smiled to himself and answering. "She's Mei's guest, but Kisame brought her back and she's been here since. She's really nice."

"And I have no car because Haku took her shopping." Yagura clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

"Th-there are other cars you could use."

"Not interested."

Yagura went back to his room to sleep again for less than a day before coming back out again to seek out Zabuza and rope the older man into a patrol of the district they ran.

"He's out with Ao in the Barren District," Haku answered without looking up from his novel. The boy's tone was light and faded, like it was air between them. "Should be back in a few hours."

"What are they doing there?" Yagura asked in annoyance.

"Whatever Mei asks them. She said she told you she was looking into the movements in that district, didn't you?" Haku looked up from his book for the first time and cocked his head at an angle to one side, eyes wide and innocent. "Or did she not fill you in on her plans because you were sleeping? I'm sorry, I shouldn't have bothered you with the distraction."

Haku was almost worse than Mei with the sass sometimes. Zabuza let the kid get away with too much, and it was Yagura's friendship with the old man that kept Yagura from swiping out and backhanding he kid out of his seat. The mental image was pleasing and the idea of violence made his very bones shake and then settle.

But he didn't slap Haku. He took his agitation back to bed and slept again, suspecting things would be better the next waking day.

He was standing in the kitchen, staring into a densely packed fridge with one glaring absence.

"Who took my cannoli?" he seethed, slamming the door and storming out with a heading set for Kisame. The man ate like a tank and was in the kitchen more than anyone else. He would knew better than Yagura who the thief would be.

Yagura found the blue giant in the map room, helping Mei assemble pins on the board attached with scrolls wrapped up tight around the pins. Both looked up when he stormed in, but neither shrank or flinched. Mei didn't need to and Kisame was a powerhouse in his own right. Kisame was likely the only other one who could go toe to toe with Yagura and not suffer a horrible loss in the first twenty minutes of a fight.

"Who?" was all the shorter male ground out.

"What are you talking about now, dear?" Mei asked in a soft sort of voice best suited to mothers and lovers. Mei was neither to him and they both knew that. She was just his agitator.

"The kitchen. My cannoli."

Kisame looked up. "Those weren't yours. That was a run I made, and you were asleep and never asked for any."

"There are always cannoli for me. Everyone else received their usual. Where is my cannoli, I can _smell_ where it should have been."

"Like I said, those weren't for you. Sakura wanted to try one and she liked them, so I gave the rest to her," Kisame admitted, ducking his head as he leaned over the table even further. Along the high ridges of his cheekbones and the shell of his ear his skin flushed a mellow shade of purple through his blue skin.

"Sakura?" he hissed the name.

"My guest," Mei added. "Don't be mean, she won't like you."

"I don't like her, so that's fine," he snapped, feeling the static around his face charge. "When is she leaving?"

Kisame looked up suddenly and turned his eyes to Mei who rolled her lips against each other before leaning back away from the table and crossing her arms. Her eyes were on the flags, but she answered him in spite of her split attention.

"She may leave when she wishes. For as long as she has need of it, I will offer her shelter under my roof."

"What is she contributing?"

Mei looked up sharply and her eyes were knives all on their own. "That is no business of yours. I will not speak on this matter further. You may run out yourself and buy any treat you wish, but leave me to my plans. I must meditate on this a while longer. Kisame? Grab me those cards."

Mei's attention slid off Yagura to the cards Kisame was handing her, blank except for a few names and addresses she was adding to the map. Just like before, he was so easily dismissed.

Fine.

That was… just fine.

* * *

He didn't think he would, but the next day he heard the stranger ahead of him, stumbling about in the kitchen looking through the fridge. He stopped in the hall, finding himself at the crossroads of a choice. He had no plans that would take him into the kitchen, but the stranger they called Sakura was in there, and he had half a mind to scare her off before she ruined any more of his life.

Yes, it would be necessary to scare her a little.

He turned into the kitchen, feeling the agitation around his face as he rounded the corner and stopped with his feet firmly planted. Arms crossed he watched the shadow of her as she bend behind the door to the fridge and dug.

"What are you doing, you thief," he hissed, voice deep and sharp, like a knife from below.

He saw her flinch and stumble backwards out from behind the door, still gripping its side. He could tell right away by the size and shape of her wrist she was small, thin, maybe malnourished, and less a threat to any odd room then he would ever be-even at his weakest.

He held onto his glare like a lifeline when she looked up at him, green eyes wide and glassy. She was a mess, a young, scared mess, and it took the fight out of him.

He growled, hating the feeling he sensed at her reveal. The source of his agitation was before him, but scaring her or intimidating her would do nothing but agitate him further.

She stepped out further and he noticed how she carried herself on unsteady legs, the unusual angle she moved at, and how thin her ankles were with bare feet and miles of bare legs. She was wearing a dress, but it was too small to consider appropriate for anything other than sleepwear.

With a small sort of horror he realized the hour was late and the sky was dark beyond the windows and that fancy white lace was exactly what he thought it was. He had caught her in her sleeping things like some sort of pervert.

Didn't she know better?

He looked away, cheeks red up to his ears. "What are you doing here?"

"Food?"

Something curled up in his chest and he almost doubled over from the surprise of the feeling. Her voice was like a memory in his heart and he knew instantly that she was one of the mer folk known for their voices. There was no way she could be anything else. Additionally, Mei mentioned mermaid tail being sold again. No one told him, but he figured it all out.

"You need something to eat, then?" he grunted, voice less sharp and melting fast.

When she nodded he hated how it made her seem smaller than she already was, like she was shrinking away into nothingness. He took a step towards her.

"Then eat something. What are you looking for? There is plenty to choose from." He came up behind her and glared over her shoulder into the fridge. "There are cookies and cake and frozen pasta. All excellent choices."

"…No cannoli?"

"Ah, well, I guess you just have a more refined taste than the others. No, there is no cannoli. The only one who eats it is me."

Sakura wilted at the confession, but nodded in agreement. "Oh. Okay." She looked to the fridge and then over at Yagura. "Thanks anyway."

"You're not going to take something else?"

Sakura shrugged. "I-I've tried some other stuff, but it all made me sick so far. Mei said I would adjust in time."

"So you can't keep anything else down," he mused, thinking how horrible that must be. No wonder she was so thin. She hadn't been properly taken care of.

"Come on," he said, leading her by the arm. "The bakery operated on a 24 seven schedule. Go change and meet me in the garage. I was heading out there on my own anyway, and I guess it wouldn't be too much trouble if you tagged along. You wouldn't be able to get them without me anyway at this hour."

"Change into one of the new dresses? Will it be…long?"

"Not truly, at least not at this hour. Go, that's not appropriate to be seen in. When you come out in the future you should wear a robe. Has no one told you how you could cover up or even why?"

Sakura hook her head before nodding once awkwardly and hopping off to change. She came back after several long minutes in a plain gray and blue pinstripe pattern. It was modest, neat, and somehow she made it look like the opposite of what it had been intended for; simple wearing. She clutched a small purse, too thin to hold much.

"You won't need that," he grumbled, turning and stalking into the garage with a backwards wave meant to encourage her to follow. "It's unthinkable to accept the pennies of the poor. Save it."

He stopped when he realized she wasn't following. He turned, glower fresh.

"What is it?"

"You're Yagura right?"

"Huh, what of it?"

Sakura dipped her head and the loose strands of coral pink slid over her shoulders. "Thank you. I'm Sakura."

He didn't fluster, but maybe Yagura did go a bit red in the face, embarassed to be thanked so directly.

"Whatever," he muttered, turning his back to her and walking on. "You'll need new clothes too. Next time we'll replace those drab things Haku chose for you. Nothing even came with a hair ribbon. Really, they should be ashamed of their hospitality."

She followed silently, but with a smile.

* * *

"What is that?"

"What does it look like?" he barked.

Mei frowned, looking down at the bag of hands, some still fresh with wet blood. "It looks like a mess. Where did they come from?"

"You won't find anyone willing to cut up a mermaid tail for food any longer. "


	20. Space Angel

**Space Angel  
Sakura?**

* * *

She was a lot smaller than he expected, prettier too.

Kakashi glanced up over the top of his clipboard. She was right where he left her, smack dab in the center of the room with her hand on her hip and a devil may care gleam in her eye. The standard navy colored space suit he saw sold in malls all along the space colonies was zipped down to her hips, the top half being tied messily around her waist.

Behind her sat the dull red head who followed her around. Gaara had been what she called him. The rest of her crew waited elsewhere, less concerned with sticking to her side.

"So," Kakashi cleared his throat. "You've done this sort of work before, I see. Why chose to go at it alone? It's much safer and far neater to go through the system as an agent of a larger entity."

"I'm aware of that. I never had a problem getting work when I had Konah telling me what to do, but I like calling my own shots."

"Is that for any particular reason?"

She shifted the weight of her body from one leg to the other, but the gleam in her eyes didn't change. "I don't like people telling me what to do. That's how I choose to live my life."

"Even if that means extra danger?"

Sakura laughed prettily and Gaara looked up. "Kakashi san, nothing about the bounty business is safe, regardless of who backs you or doesn't."

"I suppose so, but every precaution counts if it keeps you alive."

"If that's what you call living."

Kakashi glanced back down at the papers she had given him. Listed up and down where the ranks and details of missions she had completed on her own. It said she started young, at twelve, but the lowest she listed was a C mission. There were plenty of B and A ranked missions that sounded challenging, but it was the handful of S class missions at the top that made him stop and look at her twice.

She was young and a beauty. There was no way he would have pegged her as an assassin skilled enough to survive suicide missions. Before defecting from Konah for a solo career she had been ANBU class. It was hard to picture her with blood on her face, especially when she smiled so easily.

Kakashi felt like a dirty old man when his thoughts started to wander before he reminded himself of the age difference. Also he was a professional contact. Relations with work people was a no-no. He knew that.

"I'm sorry to say this, but you're jumping in at the worse season for this sector."

"Really? I thought with the tri gate races there would be plenty of traffic and plenty of criminals. It's such a seedy sector to begin with…"

"Yeah, you're not wrong, but the Dawn Guard work in this sector during the races. Other bounty hunters and agents can try and do business here, but the Akatsuki don't leave a lot to the competition and can be even worse than the scum you're collecting. I've heard stories."

Sakura snapped her fingers and nodded. "I thought that name sounded familiar. Dawn Guard….back in Konah we called them the Akatsuki exclusivly. I've run into them before on my own."

It wasn't lost on Kakashi how her companion tensed at the mentioning of the name. From the looks of it, Sakura wasn't the only one who had tangoed with the deadly organization.

"Don't think lightly of them. They're financially unmatched and rumored to do dirty work on the side. Each and every one of their members has a reputation that stands on its own, but together they have the equal power of Konah."

"That's debatable."

"No, it really isn't," Kakashi murmured, reaching up to touch the end of his mask below his left eye. His hair hung down over that side of his face, but Sakura could see the raised flesh of a scar traveling straight up through the place where his eye should have been.

"You were from Konah, weren't you?" she asked after a moment. Kakashi blinked.

"Retired."

"Son of the white fang, if I recall correctly. They spoke well of you."

"Ah, I would imagine ANBU like to tell stories of past. While not the most talkative, they could always be counted on for a good story when it came down to it."

Sakura smiled again, and this time it was wide and bright. "I liked the stories they told about you. They always came out great."

Kakashi vaguely recognized her manipulation. She was feeding his ego in hopes of getting the work she wanted out of him and it was working. He liked being smiled at by pretty young girls, and Sakura was both.

Inwardly chiding himself for what he was about to do, the older man reached down and pulled out a binder before selecting a folder to hand over to her. He picked two more and turned those over to her as well.

"Here. These are cases you could work in the area. The last two are easier and likely not something the Akatsuki would wast their time with. But the first one is the one most suited to your particular skill set. I…wouldn't encourage you to pursue it, since it is a case they are most likely already working."

Sakura ignored the latter two files and went straight for the S ranked mission. A wicked smile spread across her face to match her dazzling eyes and Kakashi knew there was no way she would head his advice. A moment later she chuckled. "Yes, I can see exactly what you mean. This is something Deidara san would be good at, and the reward is exorbitant. I can't see Kakuzu not wanting that."

There was something relaxed about her tone, as if she were speaking objectively about friends and not deadly rouge operatives who would likely kill her if ever they crossed paths.

Kakashi closed his binder and returned it to the alcove under his desk before coughing to gain her attention. "You sound familiar with the Dawn Guard. When did you first hear about them?"

Sakura looked up, her smile still in place. "We've crossed paths a few times. The first time was when I killed the main android body of Sasori the scorpion, and then we met again when their leader Madara Uchiha decided it would be a good idea to skewer me on a stick, so yeah, I'm _familiar_."

The way the word familiar rolled off her lips sounded so suggestive it almost made the old man blush. Without much trouble, Sakura took all three files, bowed, thanked Kakashi for his time, and then left with the red head who had remained silent all throughout the meeting. Sakura paused in the doorway to wave and smile, to which Kakashi waved and smiled back. Once the door fell closed he sagged down into his seat and sighed.

"I hope they don't kill her, she seems nice."

* * *

Sakura drifted with the gravity turned off around her quarters, taping down photos and downloading information stolen from larger archives onto her mobil device. Paper was such an archaic thing that no one ever saw off the home world, but Sakura liked visuals that never turned off when having to drift through monitored zones in occupied space.

She paused to push down the curled edges of a photo of Sasori of the Red Sand, AKA Sasori the scorpion. A man who was no longer as human has he once was. Still, he was deceptively handsome, and if the rumors were true, he was still using his original human body while his android army worked on building up a replacement vessel.

"Good," she chuckled, kissing her finger and then pressing the digit to the photo where his lips were. "And they call me an angel."

Pushing back, she twisted on herself and grabbed onto the back of a magnetized chair that sat in front of her large screened computer. She was trying her darnest to get past Shikimaru's firewall and the only reason she had as much luck as she did was because the lazy bastard never bothered to keep security up to date. She knew how to get around his usual traps. She had helped him with half of them for the longest time, after all.

"Sakura chan!"

She didn't bother looking up from the screen as she taped out access codes and passwords with her second hand keyboard. A moment later the banging on her door shook her whole room and she couldn't ignore it anymore. Returning her room to normal gravity levels, she skipped over to the door and dragged it open with a groan, allowing the obnoxious blond entrance.

"Gaara said we were going up against those bastards! What do you mean we have to fight with them so soon?"

"Naruto, everyone is a bastard according to you. Who are you talking about?"

"You know who I'm talking about, those red clouds. The Akatsuki! What are we doing messing with them when they've been nothing but bad news?"

Sakura reached out and ruffled the blond's hair making Naruto cry out and pull away. "Because we're better than them and we don't have to be afraid of them when we do our job. What's wrong with you? You're never the one that wants to back off from a fight. You don't think we can hold our own?"

Naruto reached up to push her hand away and pouted. "You know what I mean. The last time you crossed paths you got seriously hurt. What if this time you didn't come back?"

Sakura laughed. "Who do you think you are talking to, Naruto? Maybe I did get banged up, but they always left worse off than me. Have a bit more faith."

"I…just don't wanna see you get hurt. Ino would kill me if I let anything happen to you."

"That's a problem, though. You see yourself as everyone's shied, but you're not. You're you, Naruto. You aren't responsible for anyone than yourself. Don't think you're my keeper. I'm okay with taking on my own danger." Sakura moved back to pull her door open wider. "Speaking of danger, your cousin should have some ready for me by now."

"Sui-buttface just dialed in and said he was done with the one mission you assigned him. That's the only thing she'll tell you," Naruto grumbled, throwing his hands behind his head and following her out.

"What about Jugo?"

Naruto shrugged. "He should be done soon, but he did leave later."

Sakura dropped down into the common area, skipping the short ladder Naruto used. Gaara looked up from the control panel he had been working with. Karin didn't move from he spot in front of a star map. Winking to Gaara, Sakura slid up beside Karin, throwing an arm over the red haired girl's shoulders. Karin didn't react or try to shove Sakura off, but she did frown.

"Do you have anything for me?"

Karin shifted her eyes over the star map. "I have a pattern, but it's not viable until I can have it confirmed." Karin clicked through a few buttons on the control panel and a red line bled through the stars, showing the activity of their bomber. Gold halos pinpointed areas where the supplies he would need to build his bomb were located. There were not a lot of halos.

"He's been planning this a while, it seems."

Karin's face was still sour looking. "The Tri Gate races only happen every four years. He had a lot of time to get his shit together."

Sakura climbed onto the control panel, careful to avoid stepping on the buttons, and reached out to pass her hands through the lights that made up the star map. "Can you tell me where we will be able to find him?"

Karin didn't move. A little stunned, Sakura turned back to see her friend glaring up at her.

"Okay, what did I do? First Naruto and now you, the both of you need to cool your jets. I'm not being irrational here. It's just a job."

"The Akatsuki bomber should be left to handle this job. We could do it, but we're not the ideal team. Aren't you being a bit too…cockish with this whole move?"

Sakura bent down, but didn't get off the ledge. "You don't think we should be working here?"

"Not this case in particular."

"Why?"

Karin sighed and flipped a switch on the control panel. The star chart shrunk away and was replaced with an image of what looked like a reactor. Sakura recognized the toxic warning signs easily enough.

"Part of the mission requires that the core be deactivated, but that's not something a human body could do thanks to the weird ass star radiation.

"There's UV and Gamma radiation on this tank," Sakura explained, pointing out the symbols.

"Both of which we can't get close to, so while Deidara would be ideal for finding this guy-tracking him down and bringing him to justice, Sasori would be the one who would have to go in and defuse this bad apple. The two of you have history."

"Has he recovered enough to sustain a second android body?"

"That's what it sounds like. You would have to fight him again, and it won't be like last time. He'll know you better and you might not get out with a simple puncture through the liver."

"I thought you were going to say something scary like Madara san or Itachi kun, but I think I can handle the puppet boy."

Karin huffed. "You're not going to take this seriously, are you?"

"I'm always serious."

Before anyone could say anything more, the signal for a transmission cut through and Gaara moved to answer it. Jugo's face came on screen and Gaara took the call, recording the information details and signing out. When Karin turned back to say something to Sakura, the pink haired captain was gone. Left in her place was the floating star chart.

"I want that pattern in an hour, Karin. I plan on beating the scorpion to the goods before it comes to a fight, _comprende_?"

Karin _tisked_ loudly, before jabbing at the buttons with her nails more violently. Naruto squeaked and slowly backed away.

Gaara wasn't so timid. "How long will it take you to confirm the pattern?"

"It's nearly done, but I won't tell her about it for another twenty minutes."

Gaara nodded. "Naruto and I will be dispatched to deal with Deidara. Let Suigetsu and Jugo know where they should meet us for backup."

"We're not sending anyone in for Sakura?"

"We can't. She's the only one who can withstand that sort of radiation without protection. That's her speciality."

Karin jabbed at something and the panel beeped angrily. "Some days I just want to kill her! Does she know how much of an ass hero she's trying to be?"

"She can do it."

"I don't care!" Karin screeched. "She shouldn't have to. We should just take the easy jobs and live as peacefully as possible in another sector where-."

"Is this about Sasuke?"

Karin stilled, frozen stiff by Gaara's words. Her hands were slack over the buttons and her throat was dry. She hadn't been expecting Gaara, of all people, to be the one who brought it up. Maybe Sakura, but Gaara was the last person who could be counted not to mess with a person's sourest wounds.

Gaara didn't wait for her to recover. "We will not have contact with Itachi, but there is a chance Sasuke could cross our path on this mission. If you feel like you can't operate under the-"

"I'm fine!" Karin was pure venom as she hissed out the words. "Don't you ever bring up his name again as a means of devaluing my capabilities. I will do what I have to do and we'll all be fine."

Gaara didn't move for a while, but then, hesitantly, he nodded. "Very well then. I'm going to prepare the fliers and make sure Naruto is ready to be deployed."

Gaara got up and walked away, his footsteps fading the further he traveled, but somehow his presence never left Karin. It was as if his words were a physical force that hung over her, slowing her fingers and weighing down her breaths. She couldn't let them do that to her. Not Gaara with his judgments, not Sasuke with his treachery, not even Sakura with her pity.

Swallowing his discomfort, Karin returned to the control panel. She would do her job and everyone would come home, safe and sound. She would bring them back home.

* * *

Such an old piece, from 2013/4 I think. I've no idea where it was going tbh, I just wanted an android Sasori and space angel Sakura showdown…in space.


	21. Bloodstone

**BLOODSTONE**

 **PART 1  
(Uzusaku)**

* * *

Sakura knew the exact second the greyhound bus had crossed into Bloodstone Valley's borders because of two things. First, the shadows inside the bus stopped moving and became features fixed in place. Second, the vibrations on her wrist, caused by the ticking hands of her watch stopped.

Sakura turned her hand over and saw her watch had frozen in place and began to count. Before she could get to a full minute it began ticking again. The shadows also seemed to free on their own and move with the swaying of the bus.

Yup, she was in Bloodstone.

Sakura yawned, leaning forward in her seat until the bones in her spine popped back into place with a comfortable click. Easing back down into her seat she pulled up the earpieces to her her headphone and settled them over her ears before turning on her phone's radio station. There wasn't any point in looking for a station or searching through the channels; everyone in Bloodstone knew there was only one station that came in without static.

"Another day in the valley of the sunken sun and tons of families are planning getaways. Are you planning such trip with your painfully typical 2.5 family unit? Stop at our many beautiful tourist areas, such as Hanged Man's Needle, Carcass Creek, or Savage Canyon Camping Grounds just outside of Salt Fall Canyon. Don't forget the sunscreen, bug spray, and plenty of guns to guarantee a weekend you won't forget. Mention this radio commercial at any of the National Park stations for a 15% discount on your season pass. That's right, just mention Coyote news. And now for the weather!"

The only thing that played after that was soft flute music with wind chimes in the background while the greyhound bus rolled on, shuddering with every bend in the road.

Sakura watched out the window as they past the isolated power lines that connect to nothing, past the gas station that has been closed for as long as anyone knows, fenced off and as dilapidated and past the abandoned general store where teenagers used to dare kids to walk up to and ring the welcome bell to. There's never been a soul to cross the dusty thresholds in 24 years, but on hot nights teenagers swear there's something moving around behind the muddied windows.

"And now a word from out sponsors, Black Widows Pest Control: A happy home is an empty home."

Sakura turns off her phone's radio receiver and drops her cell into the front pocket of her denim vest. She can feel the bus shift into a lower gear as the drop off station comes into view. She rises to stand in the isle as it ambles into the alcove on the side of the road. A pair of twins and their cousin are waiting under the shade of the station's roof, looking excited for the returning visitor.

The bus eases to a stop and Sakura pulls her duffle down, before walking down the empt isle and exiting the bus. She's a single step left before a complete exit when she's tackled by a body heavy enough to topple her. She grunts and grabs for the rails to keep her steady as her ribs are bruised under his arms.

"Naruto," she coughs, pulling herself back up.

He follows her, face buried in her shoulder and refusing to detach from the woman who was his best friend growing up. His twin smacks him across the back of his head, but Naruto only whines and doesn't even lessen his hold. Still, Sakura's able to drag both himself and her out of the bus and onto the sidewalk. She doesn't have a chance to turn around and thank the driver, as he's already pulling away. Sakura can't remember the driver's face or gender, but thinks nothing of it as Karin elbows in.

"Don't be a hog you pervert!" she screeches at her cousin, shoving him off before taking his place and planting a kiss on the side of Sakura's face. "I missed you so much."

Naruto pouted, rubbing the side of his already bruising face while behind him Menma chuckles, arms crossed over his chest. Sakura wiggles her fingers over Karin's shoulder and he wavs in reply.

"So, you guys said you needed me for something urgent? I got away as soon as I could."

It's Menma that answers her, leaving Karin and Naruto to glare at each other over Sakura's shoulders. "Not soon enough. The old man's already done enough damage. This is why we don't advertise to tourists." He frowns at his female cousin and then coughs loudly. Karin just glares back. "You done? I'm actually looking forward to hugging my girlfriend after three months away."

"Your girlfriend?" Karin scoffs, letting Sakura go. "Someone's been daydreaming too hard. Punch him in the face Sakura and set him straight."

Menma opens his arms and Sakura rolls her eyes before moving towards them. He holds her tight and pulls her up off her feet, face buried deep in her neck. When he speaks her shoulder muffles his words. "You cut your hair even shorter."

One of his hands moves up to cradle the underside of her skull, brushing over the short strands that have been nearly buzzed. A thick strip down the center of her skull was left long enough to curl into a victory roll, but everything lower than her ears was buzzed short.

Karin grins, leaning on Naruto. "I think she looks badass. I like it."

"You would," Naruto huffed. "You shaved half your head last year-ow! I didn't say that was a bad thing."

"Yeah, yeah. So, this fellow you're all hung up on…I got a text from Sasuke but it didn't seem urgent."

"It's not urgent, but he's super annoying." Naruto shoved his female cousin off him and rubbed the side of his face. "And of course Sasuke would say something like that. He doesn't think anything's urgent unless they're out there in the desert digging up his precious crash sites. He never cares if it's other stuff that get's unwanted attention."

"Well, isn't that why you called me?" Sakura gave Menma one final squeeze and then pushed him off. He detached on a deep inhale and she rolled her eyes at what he likely thought was a throaty chuckle.

"Yeah, that and you've been gone for so long. How much longer are you going to stay away from us?"

"Naruto, college takes four years. I've only been gone three months."

The blond's eyes widen comically and nearly fill with tears. "What?! Four years? Can't you just skip three years and graduate early like you did in high school?"

"Sorry Naruto, but you're going to have to learn to tie your own shoes without me around you all the time," Sakura sighs, secretly loving how crestfallen her friend gets over her absence. Beyond Bloodstone the world is so rigid and set. Relationships are hard to form and Sakura sometimes doubts she'll ever feel like she fits.

"I can tie my shoes already, and that's not why I want you around," Naruto grumbles, receiving a pat on the back by his less emotional twin brother.

"All that to say, why don't you settle in at home? I bet you're bushed from the long ride and it's hot enough outside as it is. Let's get back." Karin nods to her jeep parked nearby and the quartet piles in.

The sun is setting as they leave the parking lot in town, but it's still setting by the time Karin drives her jeep into the garage. Sunsets in bloodstone seem to last forever before they're over like a switch. There is no fade out, one second the sun's there, bleeding fire and flame like the punctured yoke of an egg, the next second the sky's a dusky gray blue, fading darker like the smoke trail from a candle.

Sakura waits outside the garage to see it all happen. Their family ranch has nothing but wild open range behind it, dotted plentifully with tumble weed and prickly pear cactus and saguaro alike. The cousins are already moving back into the house, but Menma waits behind, watching her watch the sunset.

It dies with a flicker and is out like a flame.

"Better?" he calls out to her.

Sakura turns and grins. "I've missed this."

"You don't have to," he teases as she reaches the base of the staircase leading up the back of the house. He stands in her way and she pauses on the landing, waiting for him to move. "You could just stay here with us."

"I'd be chaos to your family."

"I like chaos." He shrugs easily. "And it's not like we're so perfect here without you. "Naruto nearly burned the house down last week trying to make nachos."

"Oh yeah, and who egged him on?" Sakura steps up the stairs until she is one slat below Menma, close and short. She pokes the middle of his chest where her eyes come up to and he almost flinches. "Last I remembered nachos were a different brother's favorite snack food."

She goes to poke him again and he catches her hand, pulling her to him to pin to his chest. She protests but he just laughs. "I'm weak for a select number of vices, but don't think nachos are the worst of it."

"Menma," she warns, voice low and almost dangerous.

They both know she can lift him and throw him over her shoulder if she wants to. And he knows she's not shy about doing it either. Still, he doesn't let her go. He just pulls her closer and leans down to rest face in her hair, breathing her in. She can feel him shiver.

"Hey," she pokes his ribs and he makes a sound, but doesn't move. "You okay? You're acting funny."

When he answers her his voice is muffled by her hair. "You've never been gone so long and you're going to be gone even longer."

"Yeah, you knew that though. Menma, what did you think it would be like? I'm getting a degree in Herbal Sciences for the sake of our desert. And besides, you weren't even there when I left. I thought you…I thought you didn't mind that I was going."

She feels more than hears the sharp intake of breath as he tenses around her. The heat from his body is like the heat from the desert, swallowing and dry. He is a flame around her. "I cared!" he growls, gripping her like his life depends on it. "Of course I cared. But I was so angry with you. I was so mad that you could…that you got to leave here and I couldn't go with you. You went somewhere I couldn't follow and you _knew_ it, you knew I wouldn't be able to follow you. I thought that was the real reason you were leaving, because you couldn't stand it, us, this place, me?"

Sakura feels herself deflate and reaches up to embrace her friend back. He's holding her like she might slip away in pieces, so she rubs circles into the taunt cartography of his back, sharp and lines with years of labor and hard work. He's as defined as Naruto, and maybe more so.

Under her hands he begins to unwind a bit, his grip loosens. His breathing becomes softer, easier. Her hands trail up and down his spine, nails lightly scratching and she hears him make a sound of comfort, not unlike a purr. It's like how it was when they were children. Both boys were more animal and too prone to ministrations as a means of calming down. Sakura was their favorite person to go to.

The sky opens up above them, choked thick with stars even in the dim light of dusk. The stars will only grow brighter the longer the night shadows stretch. In the far off bushes Sakura sees six glowing eyes reflect the light from the porch before the two dogs turn and run back into the wilds of their desert.

"Come on, I'm hungry. Let's get inside and have some dinner. Don't you think your family will be wondering where we've gone?"

Sakura teases, reaching up, trailing her nails from his spine to his neck to his scalp. He sucks in a breath and bites his lip before pulling away. The look on his face is one of dejection and playful hurt. Sakura kisses his jaw before shouldering past, knowing better than to look back. No doubt he'll need a minute to collect himself before joining her inside.

At the door she's grabbed by the wrist and yanked inside by Naruto. Before she can say anything the younger twin slides the class door shut and latches it closed, switching on the lock.

"Naruto, he won't be able to get in like that," Sakura chastises, noticing how he still hasn't let go of her yet. Somewhere in the background in the kitchen Sakura can hear Karin listening to Coyote radio.

Naruto huffs loudly. "Serves him right for stealing and hogging you to himself like that. As if he's the one that missed you the most. He was such an awful jerk when you were away. I bet he didn't contact you nearly as much as I did. You got my messages, right?"

"If I didn't get them why would I have responded to you all those times? Don't worry about it, I didn't keep track of who texted me more and it doesn't matter one way or the other."

She should have known she said the wrong thing before she opened her mouth. Naruto dropped her hand and gasped, eyes wide. "He didn't! No way, there is no way that jerk texted you more than me. Where's your phone, it was here a second ago, Karin brought it in-a hah!"

Sakura whined, slapping her vest pockets in vain, remembering taking the phone out to put in the bag Karin carried in. Naruto had found it and swiped it open, using the password she was too lazy to change. When she reached for it Naruto turned around and blocked her, bending just out of reach.

"Where are there so many Uchiha texting you? Those basters know better to stay to themselves with us, but they harass you while you're out of state? What a load of bull-ow-Sakura!" Naruto cried out as Sakura tackled him to the floor and sat on his chest, ripping her phone out of his hand.

"Naruto, you should know better," Sakura chastised, keeping him pinned down. She sat on his chest but the front of her feet were pressing down on the insides of his wrists keeping them from pushing her off. "You've never been able to beat me in a wrestling match."

"Yeah….or…." He let his words trail off as he eyed her up and down, lids lowering slightly. "Maybe I'm right where I want to be."

For being the most whiny and cuddly male Sakura knew, she was a bit thrown by the way his words came out. It sounded like something she would expect from his brother, but Naruto had been too honest and soft for demanding words that ate up space.

Sakura moved her feet off his wrists and moved to get off, but Naruto pushed up off the ground and unbalanced her, making it easy for him to flip her over and sit on her chest in a reversal of situations. His grin was nothing but foxy as he smiled down at her in triumph. She watched the subtle whiskers on his cheek fade under the new blush. He was too easy to please.

"Oh no, I'm so scared. What't the worst you're going to do to me here?" Sakura sighed, hating how she had to admit how little she disliked the situation. Naruto was probably one of her favorite people to hug, and he was too freaking cute to resist for long.

When Naruto hesitated, eyes wide and waiting Sakura huffed out a breath before opening her arms and welcoming him to snuggles. Naruto wouldn't have done much more without the invitation, which was something that made him different from his brother.

"Are you going to scratch me too, the way you do?" he asked into her neck, pushing his face against her like a cat or dog looking for pets.

"Sure, hun."

Sakura cooed, feeling tired as she wraps her arms around him and drags her nails lightly down his back and sides, diverting in circles that sooth him as well as his brother. His sounds of contentment are louder and easier to laugh at, but Sakura doesn't, because she's missed Naruto and missed how safe the way they embrace has made her feel. Holding Naruto was like holding the world.

Sakura felt the footsteps before she heard them as Menma stomped across the floor, having come in a different way. He stoped where they lay on the floor and glared at his brother before kneeling down and falling down alongside Sakura, wrapping arms around her waist and snaking them between her and Naruto.

Naruto whined but doesn't say much more when he realized his twin has settled and isn't going to take any more territory in their battle over Sakura. Naruto will forgive his twin just enough because he knows what it's like to miss a part of your heart. Sakura has been a chunk of their souls for as long as they could remember.

"I swear if you two are cuddling Sakura again without me I will skin the both of you," Karin grumbles as she marches out of the kitchen with one of her chopping knives still in hand.

From behind her shoulder Menma mutters a muffled 'uck off' and Naruto just squeaks and holds onto Sakura tighter, bracing for the wrath.

"Why you little shit…"

Karin stabs the knife down into the cutting board nearby, letting it stand out while she stomps the rest of the way over to where the friends lay. She gabs the collar of Menma's white cotton tee shirt, once so neatly tucked into his jeans, and hauls him up and off Sakura before tossing him against the fall wall where he rolls and slams into the fridge. Karin turns to glare at Naruto but doesn't move to throw him off.

"Come on, off of Sakura, she needs to eat my food and get her energy back, or did you guys forget why she came back in the first place? She's really busy trying her best and you guys are acting like toddlers."

"It's not like you weren't jealous or didn't want to get it going on yourself," Menma slurs, holding his head as he rises. His eyes are blue fire, unfocused and flickering.

"Yeah, but Sakura's sharing my bed, so it's not like I won't get my fill," Karin sasses back, a triumphant grin on her lips as the blood drains from her cousin's face. It's enough to get her to laugh into the back of her hand while Naruto helps Sakura up.

"Come on you lot. Food, remember?" Sakura says, waving to the cousins.

Karin spins on her heel and follows the group back into the kitchen to help them to Tamales and chips. Instead of eating at the table the group moves into the living room and puts on Netflix to watch a marathon of old Twilight Zone episodes.

Naruto had brought the chips in with him and Menma had brought the bowls of heated queso and salsa dip. Sakura knew she spilled awfully, but didn't care since it was nothing in comparison to Naruto.

In the dark of the room she felt a hand reach for hers and she squeezed it back.

And even though the plan had been for Karin and Sakura to share a bed, Naruto sneaked in beside them somewhere in the night and when Sakura woke in the early hours she felt Menma stretched out along the far end of the bed across her feet, one hand reaching to hold onto her leg in his sleep.

Naruto snuggled into her back, nudging the back of her legs with his knee absently. Karin made a sigh sound through her nose before tugging on the short strands of Sakura's hair, rubbing it between her fingers.

It was morning, time to wake and get to work, but Sakura couldn't help but feel she was right where she needed to be.

Alas, duty calls.

* * *

Sakura slid onto the stool at the counter of her favorite diner. Her feet ached in the worn converse that didn't breath well in the heat but were too comfortable otherwise to trade in for sandals like everyone else.

The bar was sparsely populated with two other ladies and one man and eight empty stools. Still, Sakura chose the stool to the immediate right of the man. He looked up when she settled down and she smiled easily, knowing what she looked like.

Somewhere in the background the radio behind the counter played a jingle before going to the weather and warning about the dog park and rings in the sky. Sakura waves to the blond pouring coffee and Ino sighs but nods back in return. She'll be back with Sakura's regular.

"I don't think I've seen you around here recently," the man starts, leaning in a little. Sakura can smell his aftershave and knows he's not a part of the desert. He's too clean and too awake to be a part of the landscape.

Sakura lets her long lashes play 'catch me' as the flutter prettily while her hand brushes the finger from the long of her hair. She hadn't curled it, but it remembers how to fall across her forehead from yesterday. "My bus came in late yesterday. You been here long to recognize all the locals or do you just really want to talk to me?"

"Can the answer be all of the above?" he flirts.

"Wow," Sakura laughs. "You're fun. I gotta ask what a smooth talker like you is doing in a pit stop like this? I'm now living in the city myself, but I come back every blue moon or so to see family and friends. I couldn't wait to leave this place behind, so what draws you?"

"Lots. You'd be surprised what's under these rocks if you're brave enough to just pull them up," he laughs back, picking up the toothpick from his plate to place between his teeth and let dangle. He's a cowboy now and Sakura tries hard not to laugh.

"Careful, there's scorpions under those rocks."

"A few bugs never stop the truly determined."

"You got a name, truly determined?" She lets her shoulders do the thing where they raise slightly and never lower, making her seem smaller and softer.

"Genma. What about you?"

"Sakura."

He lifted his water glass. "It's a pleasure Sakura. Seeing as how you're a local, do you mind if I ask you a few questions, mostly about the red rocks by the petroglyphs?"

"Yeah," she drawls. "I'm no expert, but I've seen them. You a researcher or something."

"Yeah, something like that. I just thought it was fascinating how an ancient desert people were knowledgeable enough to depict squid and octopus. I've got theories."

"I'm sure you do," Sakura hums, looking up as Ino comes over with a plate of waffles. "Thanks, pig."

Ino huffs, dropping off the breakfast with a slit stare. "I'm adding it to your tab, forehead."

"Love you too," Sakura responds with a wave, leaning on the counter, closer to her food.

The man glances between Sakura and the waitress and then snorts. "She's a prickly one. What's with the nickname?"

"Forehead?" Sakura makes her eyes go wide, questioning.

"Yeah," he says with a nod, looking at her face with too much openness to his expression. Absently, Sakura cuts into her waffle and stuffs her face with a forkful before answering.

"Ah," she says before swallowing and wiping the cream off her lips, knowing he is watching. "I guess I could show you. It's not like you'll remember it anyway."

Sakura leans back and reaches up to move the heavy lock of hair off her forehead, exposing the long space of skin slit with a purple rhombus no bigger than a nickel.

Genma leans forward, staring as he hears something wet rip behind the mark. The rhombus split down the middle all on it's own and spread it's halves open wide to show a spinning gray eye. The eye bled into a purple color as it began to turn, growing even darker as more lines and tomes appear- spinning faster and faster until all there is to see is red like the sky, red like the rocks, red like the blood, red as red as red….

Then it goes still and the color drains before the eye seals closed behind a purple rhombus that also loses it's color in an attempt to blend in with the surrounding skin.

Sakura droped her hair and turned back to her waffles. Beside her Genma drooled, staring off into nothing. When she's done Sakura pat him on the back and swaggered out of the diner, slightly woozy and light footed as she wishes him a safe journey back to wherever his home is.

* * *

 **BLOODSTONE**

 **PART 2**  
 **(ItaSaku)**

* * *

Sakura made herself an eyesore where she knew she would be seen; lounging across the hood of the sleek, midnight black 1972 Dodge Charger. Autumn break had the temperatures in the valley dropping and for a native such as herself, the heat of the metal frame warmed her like a lizard on asphalt.

When the owner of the vehicle emerged from the office building to see who decorated his hood Sakura couldn't help but grin at the look of utter disgust that overtook the stiff's face. His face was hardly ever expressive, but she could tell by the tightness of his eyes and the shadow of a curl in his lips. He didn't look happy to see her and that thrilled her.

"Ah," he began in a monotone. "The pariah is back. I had thought you left for good. Did they kick you out so soon?" He stopped in front of his car and stared down at her, refusing to approach any further in his perfectly pressed navy suit.

"It's called fall break, and it's nice to see you too, Uchiha. You've missed me."

Itachi Uchiha would have rolled his eyes if he were any other person, but instead he huffed a breath and frowned. "Hardly. Please remove yourself, least you wish to be flung from my windshield at sixty five miles an hour."

"Testy."

"Those are the speed limits and I intend to take advantage of them."

"Where do you intend to throw me off the road?" She leans forward. "It wouldn't be anywhere near the Iron Rails?"

Itachi hisses. "You're a gnat in the wind."

"And you're an outsider to this valley." When his stare narrows she leans forward. "Well, all you Uchiha are mesa invaders, you know." She pauses. "And…other things, but the mesa invader title is the kindest I think."

"I'll call you your names to your face."

"Warms my heart when a boy gives me pet names."

"Get off my car."

Sakura pouts. "I thought you wanted to throw me from your windshield. That not the plan anymore?"

"I need to leave, make up your mind and be done with it." Itachi reaches into the pocket of his trousers and removes his keys. He rolls them over in his hand once more letting them slip partway between his fingers before catching them. He turns his wrist over and angels his chin at her. "Are you going to move or must I lay hands on you?"

Sakura grins and it's a feral twist of her lips. "Wow, you're not making it difficult for me to twist your words at all, you know. By all means, lay hands."

Itachi shuffles, impossibly poised in spite of the color flushing across his ears. He ignores her, moving to the driver's side and opening the door before letting himself in. Before he can lock the doors, Sakura has the passenger's side door open and is sliding into the open seat. Itachi pauses to watch her help herself to the seatbelt and buckle up.

She looks up, catching his baffled expression. She taps the tip of his nose with her pointer finger. "Be safe, buckle up!"

For whatever reason he doesn't boot her out or even voice his complaints. It's been a while since she made herself a thorn in his side, all things considered. He had enough patience to put up with her for a few hours while he examined her ancestral lands. Uchiha usually didn't like 'outsiders' involved in their business, but it was more trouble than it was worth to completely cut out some people from the sites.

Itachi turned his key into the ignition and let his mind wander to Sasuke. If he knew Sakura was back his foolish little brother wouldn't still be at the academy in Phoenix for the weekend seminar. It would be terrible to withstand the boy's whining once he came back home and found out he missed his old friend.

"This excursion stays a secret. If anyone asks, I have no idea you were here. You're showing me out to a site."

Sakura mocks a salute. "Yes, sir."

"…You are insufferable."

A twinkle comes into her eyes. "I try."

Sakura's family technically owned the land where most of the Uchiha did their business, but because of government overrides there is a level of authority that supersedes generations of inheritance and ceremony and sacred keeping. Most of the locals are content to let the agents wander aimlessly in the twisted red rock canyon. Lesser men have died from it.

'Four every year since 1983,' Sakura chirps in his memory.

But Uchiha are not lesser men and it took very little time for the people of Bloodstone to recognize that after the clan moved in seven and a half years ago. Peace was never a word that fit in Bloodstone, but it was even more foreign to the name Uchiha.

"Who told you I would be heading out to the Reigns?" Itachi asks, accelerating as he turns onto the arrow straight highway leading away from the city's populace.

"I only guessed that much," Sakura hummed. "But I heard about things showing up after that last rain and I figured it wouldn't be long until one of you suits turned his nose up. I guessed it would be you, and I was right."

"Things?" He echoes her earlier word.

"Things," Sakura teases, stressing the single word. "Indeed, Uchiha. I'm sure you heard some fascinating stories from the technology you left out there."

Her words sound like a tease but Itachi doesn't let them get to him. He doesn't let her see how irritated she can be to someone like him. "The geography has been known to cause interference to our technology when it tries to communicate with us."

"The hills don't like to share their secrets," Sakura breathed, closing her eyes and nodding like the old women who have nothing better to do than sit outside on their porches and makes jokes about all the misfortunes left in the world. "You're lucky you heard as much as you did, Itachi."

"Do not use my first name so casually, Haruno."

Her voice drops an octave and suddenly it's breathy in his ear as he's driving. "I-ta-chi."

He is a man of impressive will for how stony his entire body goes, refusing to react to the bait. He isn't like any of his cousins, he will not give in. The skin over his knuckles goes white as he holds onto the edges of the wheel like it's the only thing that can keep him grounded.

"Haruno," his voice is a growl that could have been so easily sexy if he tried, but it's too threatening to be misconstrued.

Sakura knows when to back off, so she raises her palms and smiles, scooting back over to her side of the car. "Sorry, sorry, I just thought we were such old friends it was time we moved onto first names. Do you still want to hear what I know about the Iron Rails or wanna wait until we get there. It won't be much longer with the way you drive, speed demon."

The Iron Rails was a spot of land just on the edge of Bloodstone's official boundaries, named from back when the railroad started laying down iron for track back in the early 1900's. They didn't get far. Too many bad luck incidents made them turn tail and go the long way around the red rock, but not before many of the rails were bolted down, making the site iconic to the local histories.

"I doubt you'll have anything useful to say."

Sakura knew that was Itachi speak for 'tell me,' since if he wanted her to shut up or keep her opinions to herself, he would have refused to comment or reply with a typical Itachi 'ah' or the famed Uchiha 'hn' expression. It had taken Sakura years to move from the 'hn' stage with Itachi, and that was only after she won over Sasuke.

"You hear any stories about your pretty red eyes in the desert?"

Itachi almost flinched, but coming to the bend he had been decelerating, so the twitch was easy to miss. But, Sakura didn't.

Itachi lied. "No."

Sakura rolled her shoulders and turned her face out the window to watch the dusty red lands blur past. The sky was low, sparsely populate with a handful of clouds that looked like they rose upwards forever in thick, stacking columns. Another rain would be soon. It was the monsoon season, and even if water didn't fall from the sky, there would be lightning and thunder once the sun set. Her arms were already tingling.

There was nowhere in the world where the sky was more gorgeous than Bloodstone and the state of Arizona. Come dusk, the sky would be a sea of the best colors mixing and bleeding and sagging deep deep deep enough to touch. She missed the sights from the mesas like when she was young and still running with three eyed coyotes.

"You know, once upon a time there was a bad day. It was a bad day because the world wasn't working the way it should have. We all began in a different world, and then we emerged into a better world, before leaving that one behind for an even better world. We repeated the cycle again and again until we knew there should be no more worlds. Ever time we left one to come to another, things followed."

"Save me your stories. I've heard them all before."

In a rare moment Sakura snaps in a voice as deep as desert thunder. "It is a _honor_ to hear these stories."

It shocks him to the heart and he feels small beside her. Itachi is rightly humbled, but Sakura does not continue. The road bends and Itachi sees the first few feet of rail and knows the location is close. He takes his car off road and they roll down across the dust to the base of a sheer red rock wall that the tracks had meant to blast through. A hundred years later, the rock still stands.

He stops his car and lets it idle before turning the key back and removing it. A sideways glance tells him that Sakura is not herself, her eyes are tight and her stance is ridged in her seat. It's enough to send a thrill of danger through him. He's greatly offended her and he needs to make it right.

"I apologize for my trivializing of your words. I forget myself."

Sakura turns to him slowly. "You did not forget yourself, Uchiha, you remembered yourself. You take and you take and you never think to thank or give credit to anything but your own gods. Forget this self if you don't want to be used in the end." She punctuates her words by un-clicking her belt and slipping out the passenger's side door and slamming it shut behind her. It bangs and Itachi feels her words settle in him like a prophecy.

Itachi scrambles out and rounds his car's front to see her stand with a little less rigidity, but the playfulness is gone from her frame. She removes a pair of aviators from her breast pocket and slips them on, glancing west where the sun still hangs high. Her short hair is spun gold and rose under the sunbeams. She looks like a part of the desert.

"What things followed?"

She turns to him and her brows show surprise. Itachi takes his own sunglasses out of his pocket but doesn't slip them on, not until he sees her eyes and she decides to forgive him.

"What things followed from the other worlds?" he asks again.

She swallows and looks towards the end of the rails. "Nothing good. Each world was left because it was worse off. Maybe one day too this world will be filled with the monsters we make. But like all invaders, they were unwelcome. Stone remembers, but stone doesn't stand forever."

Sakura lifts a hand towards the evidence of erosion tearing down the side of another mesa not too far off. A recent rain has finished decades of weathering by pushing it apart and tearing the front half down. Itachi sees what used to be the interior of an old tribal dwelling left in natural ruin, having been exposed with the rockslide. It had been perfectly hidden and sealed days earlier.

"There's not much that stands longer than stone," Itachi intones, slipping his sunglasses into place.

Sakura huffs a breath and it sounds chastising. "Not much that you know," she says. There's a little bit of teasing back in her voice and Itachi doesn't know why he feels relieved. Her teasing voice means more mischief for him to deal with.

"One bad day, Uchiha, and that's all any empire really needs to know how to crumble. Come on, let's see if our 'bad day' made it through."

It doesn't look like a lot, but the dust and the desert that separates his car and their destination is longer than it looks. Skitting a patch of barrel cactus Sakura begins to sprint before punctuating her flight with a vault upwards, grabbing red rock and swinging up onto a narrow ledge. Itachi takes the longer way around the rubble. By the time he catches up with her Sakura has her face set into a look of discontent.

"Ugh, you look so good in a suit, but really it's not practical way out here."

He ignores the way her forwardness makes his ears burn. "That is why you are here, is it not, Haruno?" he dryly comments, pretending he doesn't care how he sees her. His eyes are still safe behind tinted shades.

She twitches and turns sharply to look far off towards the sky and Itachi sees the way her shoulders rise.

"What?" he asks when she doesn't say anything.

"Thunder. It's far off, we have maybe four hours like this. Rain isn't much further behind."

Itachi doesn't say anything along the lines of how she shouldn't be able to hear thunder from so far away, but knows that's a quirk of hers he is better off not exploring.

Sakura grins and jumps down from the ledge, disturbing nary a pebble with her dismount. She leads him into the newly uncovered ruins and down the corridors where there is nothing but swirling red stone rising high on either side, blasted and loved by the winds of a desert for too many thousands of years. There are other areas hit harder from the rains, and it's almost amazing to see the difference from one year to another.

Itachi stops at another rockslide site, this one more rugged than the last. Sakura pauses beside him, shoulders dropping. "The storms here are getting worse every year. I don't want to know what the rains look like next year."

"There are always going to be monsoons in the desert."

Sakura bites her lip. "But they're getting worse. It wasn't like this when I was a kid, I don't remember them so badly. Look at all the destruction they brought."

"I see it. But that is the way of things. No point in getting worked up over the rain. Your desert will survive."

She almost turns on him, angry again, but when she spins he is looking at her and she realizes his words weren't condescending but empowering. In the Uchiha manner he might have as well have said 'believe in the strength of your desert' for how her heart took it.

He turns first and walks away, down under the arches and past the wall of paintings protected from the worst of the winds. The drawings of white tentacle creatures that could have been squid or octopus before an evolutionary step stand out. Archeologists claim the drawings support their theory that the desert was, once upon a time, close to a major water source such as the ocean-back before California's tectonic plate shifted up or something like that.

Sakura just laughs at the theory.

The red rocks around them are amazing, but after another bend Sakura stops suddenly and looks down. Her lips falter before forming an O shape and whistling sharply.

"Yeah, that's a big hole," she adds.

Itachi eyes the far edge and sees what used to be stairs. "That's not a hole. The rain just uncovered the roof."

Sakura sticks close to his side as Itachi moved to the stairs and retrieves a light from his trouser pockets. He pushes up his sunglasses into his hair and Sakura slides her own back into her breast pocket. The long curl of hair stays between her eyes, covering her oversized forehead.

It gets dark quick.

The chamber is different from the famous lava tunnels that populate to the east in abundance. Their valley was built by ancient eruptions after all. Sakura's hand reaches for the wall and slides down it as she follows the stairs downwards. Her fingers brush over a vein of turquoise and it glows a bit before dimming just as quickly.

"So…" she begins, knowing Itachi is listening even if he doesn't reply. "Where is Sasuke this week? I'm only off for a few days and I was hoping I would get to see him before I go back."

"You think that wise?" Itachi's tone is not amused.

"I think it would be fun."

He huffs a breath, stepping down off the stairs onto earth. "I'm sure you do."

Sakura follows him soon after. "You're such a stick in the mud. You never liked me playing with Sasuke even when we were kids. What's one tiny visit between months of separation?"

"He doesn't need the distraction right now."

"From what? Nothing's so important that he needs to be cloistered away like some boy emperor. Naruto said he was training somewhere in Phoenix, but that's as specific as it gets."

Itachi doesn't reply and Sakura hums, expecting the silent treatment. Sasuke was always a testy subject for the older brother. It didn't help matters when the child who once idolized and looked up to his big brother now resents the same person almost as well while turning his attention and affections to others.

The only person Itachi probably disliked more than her was Naruto, for how close Sasuke was to the other boy. But between Naruto and Sakura, the way Itachi behaved was noticeably different. He seemed to go out of his way to make things harder for her. Itachi was too sophisticated to tease, but he did seem to go out of his way to bug her. It was only fair she returned the favor.

"It's fine, he texts me all the time, you know."

Itachi staggers but keeps walking. "Ah."

"Yeah, I've been busy, but I'm sure if I asked to meet up before I go back we'd be able to work something out. He always wants to see me."

Itachi turns his light off and stops, sending the both of them into pitch darkness. Sakura looses sense of up and down and hits something with her foot and falls. Seconds later Itachi looms over her, light in her face. Sakura's breath stops in her throat when she sees his spinning red eyes.

"It's true, you do have the sharingan."

Itachi blinks and then hisses, turning the light away before crouching down atop her and angling his phone again so she has to squint into the light. "You stay away from my brother. Don't you dare drag him into anything after I've worked so hard to keep him away from this."

Sakura grabs the front of Itachi's shirt and holds him to keep him from pulling away. He tugs but her fist is a grip of iron. "And you think the way you're treating him ins't pushing him straight into the thick of it? Do you even know how much you've hurt Sasuke with the way you treat him as inferior? You wanna threaten me you go ahead and try, but be smart about it."

"You don't know anything."

"I know more than you, and I know what Sasuke tells me, which is not what you tell him. He knows about all of this, he knows about the cover ups being real cover ups for other cover ups and he knows about the things you and your uncle dug up in the desert. He knows what you hide from him and the more you shut him out the harder he tries to get in." She shakes his shirt and drags him closer. "Like this, it's only a matter of time before he finds his own Ancestor and gives himself pretty cursed eyes."

Itachi is rightly shocked, knowing for sure not what he had suspected for years. Sakura knows more about the desert than Shisui or Madara gave her credit for. They had told him to ignore her, that she wasn't worth the bother, but Sakura knows about the Ancestors and their eyes and lying about it being a genetic mutation where blood leaks into the iris isn't going to fix things this time.

"What did you say about Sasuke finding an Ancestor?" Itachi forces himself to ask. That's not something Sasuke should know about. Sasuke doesn't need to be a part of this. He just needs to pretend to cover up bogus Alien crashes and process data. He doesn't need to know what his family does in the dark.

"There's a snake in the business. Someone is leaking Sasuke information. I've intercepted tons of it, but there's no way in hell he doesn't know enough to make him curious. It only serves your family right, digging up what doesn't belong to you."

Sakura angles her hips up into Itachi and flips him over, hand still at his throat. He drops his phone but the light is still on, leaving them half in shadow. Itachi swallows, red eyes wide.

"How did you know?"

She lifts a single brow, leveling him with a look of 'do you think I'm stupid?'

"Who do you think watched over the bad things all these generations?" Sakura leans down over him and he can feel her breath. "You've been messing in matters you have no business with, and everyone else is content to watch this curse consume you. Tell me, how bad are the nightmares? Have you started having vision loss yet?"

"That's only because I was weaker than the others," Itachi snaps in a rare flush of emotion.

"No, it was because you stole and thought yourself right to do it, right to conquer. I could leave you alone and you'll be dead in another five years, but not before wasting away if you're already showing signs."

Itachi breaths deep, narrowing his beautiful eyes at her. "It would serve me right, wouldn't it?"

Sakura's eyes soften. "You know, it really sucks to have feelings for you."

Itachi's expression is dumbstruck and open as Sakura leans down and fits her lips over his. There is only a split second of hesitation before he responds, reaching up and pulling her down, closer to him. The hand around his throat slips up into his hair and he moans into her mouth at the feel of her fingernails running down his scalp. He moves and Sakura feels him all around her as he bends into her, every inch of his craving more of her.

Itachi breaks on a breathy gasp before trailing kissing down her jaw and throat, nibbling on her collarbone before diving back into her again like a man starved after years in the desert. He's so animated he doesn't even notice the tears running down her eyes until his fingers trail through their path. He pulls away suddenly and holds her face, eyes narrowed in concern.

"Sakura!" he says her name so honestly, like he's been saying it for years. "Did I hurt you? What's wrong?"

Sakura's face falls into his neck and she cuddle in a little closer, her shoulders shaking with soft little sobs she tries to keep to herself. "Nothing." Her voice is muffled by the front of his shirt.

"Is it me, Sakura did I do something? Tell me and I'll fix it. Tell me if this is too fast for you. I can change that."

"That's not the problem," Sakura laughs, even though her eyes are still damp as she shakes her head. "You-you're perfect just the way you are. Right here, this moment here is perfect."

His hands shake a bit as he pats her hair down away from her face, stroking lovingly. He's finally able to touch her the way he's wanted to. He's finally free to be honest about what he wants. "Tell me and I'll make it all better," he whispers, kissing the top of her head.

Sakura reaches up and touches the side of his face. He leans into her hand, turning to quickly kiss her palm before nestling into where she holds his face. When she looks up her hair is pushed back and the bright red eye in the center of her forehead is spinning until it's not red anymore, but gray like the thunder and surrounded by rings. There's a crack in the world around them before Itachi falls unconscious under her a second later.

Sakura swallows and pushes herself up. She rubs her wet eyes dry while the slit in her forehead seals back up with a sound like tearing paper. It's not her neatest job, but at least like this he won't remember what happened between them. That's the way it should be.

"Business," she says out loud, turning back towards the far end of the cave. She wipes her eyes again, forcing them to turn white and see in the dark until she reaches the end where the earth decided to split and expose the rare bloodstone quarts that mutated out of the turquoise. Encased in crystal the color of an Arizona sky there is a body. His eyes are closed and his clothing is undatable, but Sakura remembers the visions when he opens his eyes and the world burns in black fire.

"I'm sure the Uchiha would just love to find you, Indra, but that's not going to happen today."

Sakura puts her hands on the side of the wall still made of red stone and concentrates, asking for favor. She doesn't have the sort of power to move earth and stone, but she knows how to ask and listen. When she opens her eyes again the seam is sealed and there is a pain in the back of her brain she knows comes from Indra, who curses her efforts to keep him separated from the waking world. She'll take the headache. The heartache is just a little harder to deal with.

She hears Itachi stir behind her and sighs. Swallowing, Sakura turns on her heel and skips back to where Itachi is just picking himself back up and collecting his phone.

"Wow, you took a bad tumble. You okay?"

Itachi glares at her, flashing his phone around. He doesn't say anything, but pushes past her, finds nothing, and then turns back towards the stairs.

Outside he stops and shuffles through his pockets before finding his sunglasses on his forehead where he left them. They're a little dusty, but they're too expensive to be damaged with such a simple fall.

"Haruno," he barks. The way he says her name is so different. Minutes ago he whispered it like a prayer and held her to him.

She blinks and smiles wide, wider than she knows how to. "Yes?"

"You knew this would be a dead end." It wasn't a question.

"Nah, just figured it would be. You have fun."

"Don't waste my time in the future." He turns and stalks off to his car, trailing dust like it's his business. Sakura watches as he opens the driver side door and steps in, only to pause before disappearing out of view. He's glaring at her. "Hurry up, just don't stand there. I'm taking you back."

"Wow, what a gentle man. You gonna treat me to dinner too?" she laughs, skipping over.

"Don't push your luck, Haruno."

His almost smile melts her on the inside but she doesn't show it. She just buckles up and breaths deep, praying that there is a day when she doesn't have to draw lines between them. Protector and invader. It should have been simple, but Itachi Uchiha was too lovely to not be so complicated.

She should have known better.


	22. Roots that Strangle

Sakura opened her eyes and glanced about the room, recognizing the set up before she could even lift her hands and feel the chains there. It wasn't the first time someone had drugged and dragged them into a basemen, and she doubted it would be the last.

"You're awake."

She looked over to where the voice came from. Danzo leaned on his cane, a whisper of his former self. She tugged on the chains bolted to the wall and used that tension to pull herself upright.

"You look terrible, Danzo chan."

He was as old as a relic but he still flinched at the nickname she had called him once upon a time, a lifetime ago, when time and space carried her to a generation she had no right influencing.

"I wasn't mistaken." He took a step forward and then stopped. "What is your business?"

"What is my business any other time I pop up around these parts?"

"The Uchiha are no longer fit patrons. They are staging their rebellion on the heart of our village."

"Yes, I know that."

Danzo took a half step back. "Do you seek to aid them?"

"No, Konoha is my village too, even if I chose to dwell outside her boarders. I don't seek to aid the Uchiha in their misguided plans. They've become too proud, they don't see how they could possibly fail." Sakura shook her chains. "That might be a bit of my fault. I've fed their egos for generations, but I've returned to make it right."

"You will aid us-"

"No."

Her voice cut through his like a knife cutting through butter. She was a frail looking thing, a dirty woman just shy of her teenage years, while he stood with more a hunch than a posture. He should have been four times her age, but he wasn't...at least not in any way that mattered.

When she spoke she used the voice he had grown up listening to. Once upon a time it had been the voice he strained to her, he hung on the words from her lips like the most devote of pupils. But that didn't matter much in the end. She took a boy from the Uchiha clan, Kagami, as her acolyte and taught him and spoke through him after Madara.

After Kagami there were others, _all Uchiha._

The eyes dotting the length of his arm throbbed and he leashed the excess chakra, least they spin out of control in his anger.

"You are not with me, then you are against me."

"You are nothing to stand against Danzo," Sakura said in a tone that dismissed all his authority and abilities. "And I am not here to make war. I am here to prevent it, don't misunderstand."

"You don't have an acolyte to speak through."

"Shisui-"

"Is dead!" he screamed it and the chamber echoed with his words.

For the first time in his life he won the look of surprise on her face. Because of something he said, because of something he did her face looked at him with something close to wonder. But then it melted into something terrible. The rumble of warning in the clouds far off.

"Where is he?"

Danzo's hand trembled, but he let it raise. The cane fell away, limp. He pawed at the harness and then pulled it away. The black fabric was easy enough to roll up and for the second time in his life he won a look of shock for himself. The goddess who never aged since the days before their village's founding, the woman who never died, the girl who never looked at him, stared at the mess of his arm with wide eyes.

"He's here, Sakura," he breathed, holding his arm up. He touched a single eye and hummed when her body began to vibrate. "I have proven myself his better. You chose poorly."

"You were supposed to have changed. You-you-"

Her chest heaved with the words she choked on. The only other times he had been so happy was when she was first caught in his trap, and when he...when he was a small boy she praised.

The chains shattered in spite of their chakra suppression. She screamed and he almost didn't know to move in time to avoid having his head knocked off his shoulder by her earth shattering fist.

It didn't last long.

Even if it was his turf, she was ancient to him and a goddess in the flesh. He had fought well enough to wound her, but such injuries would quickly be sealed up he knew.

Only they weren't.

"Why aren't you healing?" he coughed, tasting blood.

"I never claimed to be a god. I'm destined to die same as any of you." Sakura spit out the blood in her mouth and then ran a thumb over her lips. "But I'll not walk hand in hand with death until I see this through. You're my responsibility now, Danzo."

Behind her a new figure stepped into the light, hands stained with dripping blood. Itachi Uchiha glared from the corner the way a jealous lover would and suddenly it made sense.

Danzo laughed, unable to help it. She had moved on so quickly. He had never been an option. Nothing he did mattered.

"The Uchiha are beyond saving. They'll be swallowed by the roots of our village, I'm sure...of that."

It hurt to breath. Soon he wouldn't be able to. He felt liquid in his chest, pooling at the base of his lungs when he tried to breath. She had crushed him and he was too old to heal from something things.

"You've accomplished nothing to take pride in, Danzo."

"Maybe, but I did it on my own, not because someone gave me this power." He lifted his monstrous arm but it was too heavy to even shift, so he settled for grunting at it and jabbing his chin up. "Maybe you'll stop the massacre, but you'll never be able to heal the rifts I've se into motion. Your precious clan is damed."

"I won't let that happen."

She spoke it like a fact and Danzo shivered for her words once more. Because she had seen it happen, she had done the undoable and he had witnessed it all. he had played a losing game from the start, but that realization mattered little to him now.

"Maybe you won't, but in all your efforts, you'll remember me." Danzo forced his chin up. "That's enough for me. I defied a god."

Sakura knelt at his side, still bleeding. "I was never your god."

It was the last thing, but Danzo breathed the words and passed on without regrets. "Yes you were."

"You're hurt," Itachi mentioned.

Sakura looked up, tired and worn but managed a smile for the almost teenager. She held up the glass jar and tapped the side.

"I was just thinking about what I'd need to do with this. My body doesn't need healing just yet."

"But you'll heal yourself later, won't you?" Itachi pressed.

"Of course."

"I don't think I believe you."

Sakura laughed out loud and hopped onto a shallow hump of earth. Itachi followed close behind, ears growing pink.

"Don't be too upset. Who wouldn't laugh at a boy not believing in the goddess he swore himself to?"

"I didn't mean I didn't believe in you! I just didn't think you were going to actually heal yourself the way you healed Sasuke and the other kids when they got sick."

"I don't need to, it's not threatening my life. Now, where are we. If I remember correctly..."

Sakura pointed to the wide base of a redwood tree and knelt down beside it. Inside, curled up in the same sleep she had spelled him into with a genjutsu, Shisui Uchiha slept on with his one good eye.

"Wake him for me, Itachi dear."


	23. Lungs in Drowning

Lungs in Drowning  
Itachi x Sakura

* * *

The boy made out of dark water emerged from the south side of the island where the rocks pierced through the waves like the crooked canines of some yawning shark. And as much as Sakura wished she hadn't been his witness to landfall, she was glad it was her and not some other waif of a woman too perfect for his pitch black eyes and long midnight hair darker that ocean water.

He saw her and smiled with teeth like seafood and twice as gentle. She let him kiss her, but only once to make sure he was solid form and not saltwater and light tricking her mind.

When she pulled back for air he was relentless, chasing her lips and she knew without a doubt he would drown her if she let him.

He crumbled when her scarred hand touched his flesh. The seal inked onto her palm lit up with a flare of blue green fire that reflected in the irises of her eyes. She gasped, stepping back and allowing his body to fall into the sand, knees first. He gagged a bit and spit out the black water from his lungs and then shivered as the designs left his body, sinking in deep, deep, deep, too deep to be brought up anytime soon. By then she wouldn't be half drunk on his smile and hungry for drowning.

"Tenten wasn't exaggerating. I can see now why you've managed to drag so many in behind you."

Sakura wiped her unmarked hand over her lips and then spit into the sand by her feet. Black water soaked and colored this spot by her foot. She breathed deeper and spit again, dredging up even more black water.

The man made a sound like a whimper and a whine, more dog than human in pitch. No, not dog-seal. That's what Selki were, the sea dogs or seals of the ocean. Normally they weren't so vicious, but every once in a third generation one was born with too much charm and carelessness. Island folk wrote down in their fables that the Selki delighted in the drowning of wooed men and women, but from all of Sakura's experiences she was inclined to believe none of them cared enough to be evil.

The Selki had their own folklore, after all.

Before he could stand again, Sakura scanned the tide pools in visual range and then jogged to one. It was shallow, but deep enough for a man to swim into without breaking the surface. When she plunged her hand in the pool swallowed up her whole arm. Taking a breath she pushed her head under and opened her eyes. There, right next to her fingers.

When she came back up she dragged a heavy gray seal skin with her. She slapped her marked hand over it and the mark light up. The sealskin quivered and then twisted into a black point that disappeared inside her palm.

The man cried out and like a light switched off, his eyes rolled back and he was out.

"He's not told you his name yet?"

"I think he said it was Itachi," Sakura admitted over the edge of her teacup.

"That's an odd thing to be called," Tenten hummed back.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "It's just what I think. His human speech is still limited so we're making do. He relies too much on body language."

"It's what he's used to," said Tenten.

Sakura took their empty cups to the sink to wash but thought better of it and left them there. She waved to Tenten to follow her out and the pair took a turn about in the gardens. Tenten complimented her roses and Sakura proceeded to show the witch the blood meal she fed her bushes to keep them plump and lush and just a little bit savage.

"Leave it to an alchemist to think of such things!" Tenten laughed.

Sakura pouted. "I thought for sure you would have already had this trick up your sleeves. I was under the impression it was a classic remedy for herb witches."

"I'm not one of _those_." Tenten snapped her finger and a red orange ball of fire danced before dying above her fingertips.

Sakura held up her marked hand. "Oh I can do that too."

The haughty comment was enough for Tenten to roll her eyes too. "Of course you can. The second you see someone else doing something you can't, you don't rest until you have a new shortcut inked onto your fingers."

Sakura stretched the fingers of her left hand out and then curled them into a fist that hid the script stretching from palm to fingertip. When Tenten sighed Sakura just laughed and the rest of the visit carried on mostly like that.

When Sakura let herself back inside Itachi had his hands wrist deep in a pool of muddy sink water and one of the two teacups was already washed and dry along with the silverware and plates from their meal. His big black eyes blinked once and then he ducked his head before offering her the last dirty teacup from his sink water.

Sakura accepted the offering and ran it under clean water that scalded her fingers. When she was done he was right there with a towel, ready to dry. He cupped his hands around hers and then folded the towel over both of them, rubbing the teacup through their fingers until Sakura pulled away.

"Thank you," she said.

He smiled for her. " _Is good_ ," was all he said.

The reports of missing girls dried up, and the season shifted like a peg on a wheel that turned ever forward.

Sakura smoked from a pipe of bone white driftwood and whistled into the night the notes of a story the wind stole away.

She glanced back over her shoulder when she heard the floorboards creak. Itachi was at the threshold to her bedroom, hesitating beside the doorframe like something invisible might beat him back if he tried further.

Sakura laughed and then waved him in.

He took a step, glancing up and around like he was waiting for her magic to bounce him back out, but when nothing happened he made his way over to where she sat on the bench seat under the window. A pair of threadbare pillows curled over the edge of her open window to lean on and she pat one beside her. Itachi joined her on the bench, resting his head in the crook of his arm, watching her.

Sakura grinned and inhaled before blowing out smoke that drifted up into the dancing form of a simple bird. Then she blew again and a tiger bound after the lark. With a final pull a field mouse scrambled out her lips.

"Are you not sleepy?" she asked.

Itachi shook his head, glancing down and shadowing his eyes behind thick lashes.

Sakura hummed and pushed a strand of hair behind his ear. He leaned into the touch but settled his face back in his arms when she pulled away.

"Is something bothering you?" she asked.

He shook his head again, nonverbal like before.

"You want me to try and help you sleep?"

He raised his eyes and his eyebrows shot up as well.

"Nothing alchemical, don't worry. Just…a story or maybe a song?"

He lifted his head a fraction and his lips parted enough to make her think he might be interested.

Sakura thought of the stories she knew and the songs she was halfway decent with. She puffed another set of rings out of smoke, worrying about how long it had been since she had someone to sing to. It had been _years_.

Itachi edged closer and she absently reached for his hair again, tucking the same rebellious strand behind his ear once more, knowing good and well it would slip free again. He tilted his head into her hand and she ran her fingers through his hair, until they got caught in the beginnings of his braid.

Sakura began to hum, knowing her voice would be deeper and rasper thanks to the sage and smoke in her lungs. Itachi's lashes fluttered shut.

" _Slipped into the denseness of my emptiness I let teardrops fall I let him go. Stepped into the canyons of my loneliness And I went about as far as I could go…._ "

Sakura tried to teach Itachi how to garden but he was particularly hopeless at anything involving dirt. He liked to sit beside her while she weeded, humming in encouragement when she struggled on some deeply rooted weed. He didn't speak much, even as the weeks turned into months, but she knew he understood more than what he could say.

He knew her name well. Some days it was the only word past his lips. Other days all he voiced out loud was the same old, 'is good,' mantra that seemed more for his benefit than hers.

 _"Yes, Itachi, you're good."_

After seven weeks she debated on setting him free with his seal skin, but then decided that an extra day or two to make sure wouldn't hurt. After eight weeks she convinced herself she needed to teach him more before he went back.

After ten weeks and a beginner's library of books later, she knew he was probably ready, but couldn't admit to herself the reason for her hesitation. She was running out of excuses save for one; she didn't want him to leave because she liked having him as her ever constant companion.

"Sakura, is good."

He told her often, even though she knew he read Shelly and Brontë with poise and prosody. When he recited poetry it was soft enough to melt into. Only once the written words were taken from him did he diminish.

"Itachi is a good person too. You're kind and caring and I don't think you'd hurt anyone again." Sakura touched his face and smiled. "Would you promise me to be good? Would you promise me to not take any other girls back under the waves, or boys for that matter?"

He watched her face, trying to read her like poetry. He swallowed once before nodding and then leaning closer. "Itachi is good."

It was a worn and tired battle to correct his use of third person.

"Yes, I think you are."

It was the last leg of afternoon before evening started to paint the sky in burning colors, but Sakura's fire was still green like burning emeralds when she opened a gash in space to reach through and pull out his sealskin.

His body shivered at the sight of it and she saw his pupils blow wide with want. She offered him the skin and smiled when he reached for it.

"Take it."

Itachi didn't need modesty. He stripped of the breeches and cotton shirt, letting them pool around his ankles as every human thing fell off his body. His long black hair, once braided back and tied with a ribbon, spilled free over his pale shoulders. He took the skin and held it to his chest. Closing his eyes he smelled the salt of the sea and shook.

"Sakura!" he whispered harshly, like he was almost mad at her but also a little bit in love.

She hoped it meant something.

She hoped that meant _thank you_.

She hoped it would help, because when he ran out the door in his skin her heart hurt more than her lungs in drowning.

 _And if don't love me now  
You will never love me again  
I can still hear you saying  
You would never break the chain_

 _Baby, don't leave me…_


	24. Scarecrow Dragon

**Scarecrow Dragon (KakaSaku)**

* * *

"We all have secrets," Sakura breathed.

She sat across from where he paced. It was the nervous pacing of a man in distress, but something more basic and animalistic. He paced like an animal stalked pray from behind the bars of a fence, but when he turned to face her that leashed aggression melted, if only a bit.

"Not like this," he whispered, voice sounding far too raw. It wasn't the voice she was used to.

Outside there was far off thunder and then another peel of thunder matched itself to a bolt of lightning, casting the room in a shock of light that illuminated his broken shape.

Sakura stood and reached for him, but he drew back and the scales shifted against each other, sliding over one another in a clicking sound. He hadn't grown into them yet. The transformation had barely been leashed.

"I don't have much more time like this, Sakura. You have to go, now!"

Sakura couldn't remember a time she had seen him cry in front of him, but there were tears leaking from his singular red eye. On that side of his face the scales spread faster and grew thicker.

The curse he picked up from the Uchiha had slumbered long enough, and now it was time for Kakashi to join their den of vice in the far off lands where the winged beasts were worshiped. Her simple cottage on the skirts of a sheep's roaming pasture was the last place someone could expect to find such a sight.

Kakashi had stumbled into the village years ago and into her heart not much later. She had fought it, knowing something was very off with a man who kept so many secrets, but he had always been kind with her, soft with her, in ways other boys had only played at.

She had asked him to marry her when he confessed he thought a kiss from her might kill him in joy, and she would never forget the way he radiated as he sank to his knees in front of her and begged her not to tempt him so.

 _'I'm such a miserable fool, no, you shouldn't.'_

 _'You're the fool I want.'_

 _'You shouldn't settle for someone as old and shabby as I.'_

 _'I swear to you Kakashi if you don't love me tell me now and save me my dignity, but don't question my choices. Well, will you wed me or not?'_

The engagement band was still on his finger, straining in silver around the red scales over his hands. She watched the scales swallow his finger, ring and all under their layers. His fingers lengthen to claws tipped in black, larger than his hands had any right to be.

Sakura swallowed and held her elbows, leaning forward. "Kakashi, I'm not leaving you. You're going to marry me."

"If thi-if this continues I'll consume you, my love." The tears were coming from both eyes. "Don't let me do it. I'd rather-I'd rather you end me first."

Sakura felt her eyes flash. "Never!"

"Please," he begged, forcing himself onto his knees and turning his face away from her as more scales bloomed and shed off his body. "Please. I-I deserve it. I should have never tried to-never brought this upon you."

"I was the one who wanted to marry you. Don't say such things."

"But you didn't know what I was, you didn't know any better." He bowed his face until it touched the floor. "My damn secrets."

"We all have secrets," Sakura whispered again, reaching forward and touching his shoulder.

He flinched and shook, hand digging into the floor and drawing long gashes through the wood. He snarled and the face that once loved her softly had turned into something else. He snapped at her, teeth gleaming pale white, and then threw her across the room. He loomed, looking ready to bite at her again, but a strangled sound bent his knee. He grabbed his face, covering it with his hands and then tore out the door, into the fields, scattering the sheep who ran as far as they could.

Long bones began to stretch out of his back and the first one freed began to secrete webbing that made his first wing. He snarled and roared, still too heavy to fly as his human body was no more. Though still misshaped and small, he was a dragon dressed in red and black scales.

Unlike the Uchiha dragons, he had little of his mind left. He was a chaotic mess of scale and bones, gouging out the earth as his claws came in.

"Kakashi!"

He turned like any animal would at the sound of his name. Sakura stood in the doorway of her home, eyes blazing with light as she leveled a yew branch at him. When she spoke her voice was as deep as oceans and just as fathomless.

"You oh fearsome beast of man and bane, I will have you bend to me again."

The lightning came back, striking Kakashi who seemed to relish in the feel of white hot electricity. He roared and the lightning came from within him to strike out at her.

It connected and the booming charge melted into the chittering of a thousand birds as Sakura bat the crackling energy away with her branch.

She level the branch again and this time buds appeared.

"You are my monster, so submit unto me and know your mind once more."

The buds began to bloom, opening the more her eyes glowed. When Kakashi shot his lightning at her this time she walked into it and turned it into literal birds that screamed as they fled from her.

She stretched the branch high overhead and swung it once until the flowers began to fall in petals.

"I bind you in silver, I bind you in words, I bind you in heartstring, you are the monster I own. Return to me, Kakashi!"

Kakashi was ripped apart and torn open. He screeched something ungodly as his body split open like a cracked egg and from the mess of scales and blood he tumbled forward.

Sakura rushed for him and gathered his shivering body into her arms, urging the winds to die down and the skies to part with the last breath of twilight. Kakashi shivered, but reached for her with the hand still donned in a silver engagement band.

"Sakura?" His voice was so raw, but still somehow full of wonder.

"I told you. We all have secrets."

* * *

Part II

Shisui thought himself a more upstanding Uchiha than most, but maybe that was wrong too. Sure, he wasn't quite the saint Itachi was, but the rest of the family was a horde of terror so if he was just a little bit of a brat, it wasn't too terrible. At least he wasn't Sasuke. At least he still knew how to feel remorse for the terrible things he did.

"What is it this time?" Itachi sighed, straightening his robes. They were neatly pressed and straightened just like his long ebony hair. In contrast Shisui's hair was short and wild while his the high-waisted breeches and loosely-tucked white shirt showed off their own wrinkles.

"Why would you think something is wrong again?" Shisui grumbled, biting his thumb absently and looking away.

Itachi's dark eyes rolled skyward and he sighed. "Because you're gnawing again and it's _you_ , Shisui. You're a terrible liar."

"I might have cursed someone."

"With what?"

"A dragon's vengeance."

There was the silence before a storm while Itachi processed his words, and Shisui braced for what would come next.

"You did what?!" Itachi rarely roared but when he did it made even his older cousin shrink.

"It was in the heat of the moment, I was upset, I wasn't thinking!" Shisui wailed, holding up both palms. "I didn't consider the consequences."

"You never do."

"I feel bad about it, okay? I'm not-I'm trying to do better. I'm regretting it, okay?"

Itachi deflated from his angrier stance and shook his head. "Why would you do such a thing? What could have possessed you to pull up such deep magics?" He sounded more tired than worried.

"I'm not sure what the exact details of it are, but I saw it in a vision," Shisui murmured as his eyes bled red and started to spin. "I saw in my vision of the future, the agony I'm destined to suffer at the hands of this man and I-I was scared!" Shisui's eyes snapped back to black and he turned off the wall's ledge overlooking the property below. "I've never had such an upsetting vision about myself before. I didn't even know I could get that upset!"

The younger cousin approached Shisui and leaned his elbows on the ledge, looking out at the misty valley. "Did you not stop to consider that maybe the path you took to avoid fate is the one fate took to find you?"

Shisui's blank look had Itachi exasperated once more.

"I don't understand you riddles, cousin," Shisui admitted.

"And yet you claim to be an Uchiha. Maybe cursing this poor soul is the thing that leads to your unfortunate fate. Go and undo your wrong."

"But what if that's what causes me the agony?"

"It may very well, but the guilt eats at you even now, and you know what you did was wrong. You may not be able to undo your mistake so easily, but you should still try." Itachi pushed up off the wall and swept the long trail of his cloak around him as he turned away. "I'll inform them of your absence at the council."

Shisui sighed, nodding and tipping backwards. He saw the world turn upside down as his ankles came next. The ground was far below him, edged in mist that broke apart when his wings snapped open. The rest of his winding body followed as he took off for the far lands.

He traveled by night, risking less as he flew far. By day he meandered into taverns in towns and soaked up the stories and possible sightings of a cursed man who had been touched by Uchiha magic. Itachi always said he had a way with people.

Eventually he found a lead that took him too the ragged cliffs that made up the outskirts of a cultivated land. It would have been so easy to fly in, but night was hours off still, and he didn't mind a little hiking.

At least that's what he thought before a stray foothold fell away and his ankle followed it down. He fell with a short cry and landed on his ribs, bruising them. It would heal in an hour or so, but it was still painful as long as he held onto his human form. He was ready to just screw it all and fly out when he heard footsteps. The crook of a shepherd's cane came into view, and then her face.

"You took like you're in trouble there, mister," she called down, swinging her staff around so the curved end was in reach. "You need a hand?"

He felt like he couldn't breath and knew that didn't have anything to do with the bruises. He swallowed and then felt like laughing. "I'm Shisui!" he called up, smiling bright.

She couldn't help but look perplexed down at his giddy expression as she shook her cane again. "That's neat, mister, but my arm is going to get tired soon so you want to come up now rather than later?"

Shisui reached for the crook of her staff, bracing against the ledge to help him up again. "What's your name, miss?"

She heaved and then pulled him up, over the edge and out of the crack he had fallen he had stumbled onto his own feet she stood up straighter and rested her staff against her side. "You can call me Sakura. Folks around her know me by that name at least. You lost or something, mister?"

"You can call me Shisui," he said around another bright smile.

Sakura wrinkled her nose at being asked to address someone so familiar. "You lost, mister Shisui?"

"A little, but I'm finding my way around. Where's the nearest homestead. They said a shepherdess might be able to help me with my problem. Were they referring to you?"

"Depends," she drawled, looking him over in a way that made Shisui shiver and tremble.

All his animal instincts were telling her to wrap his wings around her and carry her off to den with before another dragon suitor could take interest. She sparked with rare magic and was too precious to behold now that he was able to see her as clearly as she saw him. She was utterly perfect in a way few things in the world ever are. Clearly mate material if ever there was a thing.

"I'm looking for a-to break a curse."

"And you think I'm a magic woman?" she laughed. "Honey, I can treat warts and rashes with remedies men might not understand, but I'm not a common witch."

"Nothing so simple," he teased, feeling brave in spite of the way his heart hammered. "But yes, you are a gift from the stars, are you not? A sorceress perhaps?"

Sakura's laughter went still in her throat and her eyes flashed with green magic. Her hand grabbed the staff a bit more firmly and the runes hides in the wood all flashed with the same green light.

"What do you want?" she asked again. "No one knows that much ever comes to me without finding trouble."

"No trouble, just…wanted to maybe talk about some theories." Shisui scrambled trying to remember why he wanted to find her in the first place. All of that was secondary to wooing her away. "I'm also…I also have the magic-am magic!"

"Oh?" She didn't look convinced.

His heart hammered. "Ye-yeah, wait, watch this."

He turned facing away from her in the direction of the cliff. He inhaled and held the breath until it caught fire in his lungs, then roared a fireball into the sky. With nothing to burn it blazed and died like a supersede sunrise.

Shisui turned to watch her and the last flicking red light from his fireball played across her face, making the flecks of gold in her eyes flare. His heart felt pinned in a trap that squeezed when he saw that look on her face. She looked impressed.

"Wow." She nodded, seemingly impressed. "I haven't seen one of those in forever. A fire mage?"

"Of a sort, yeah," Shisui chuckled. "But I'd appreciate if the others weren't privy to my abilities here. Some people can still be…traditional."

"I understand," Sakura answered with a knowing look. "Trust me, I know the feeling. Come on, I'll show you back to my place. You can discuss in detail what it is you think you might need my help with."

"You don't need to tend to the herd?"

"No, that's what sheepdogs are for."

Sakura put two fingers between her lips and whistled high and then low. A pair of dark dog shaped figures bounded over the hills and barked at the ankles of the toddling sheep scattered across the hills.

Shisui squinted and saw the reason for the shadows so thick over the dogs wasn't anything to do with the overcast sky. Both dogs were made of soil and stone and bones left discarded in the earth. Some of the bones looked like the blonde to larger creatures than dogs, but somehow they all fit. One of the runes on her staff glowed white and then green, flickering like a lantern lit by flames.

"You seem well loved enough in this valley," Shisui began, feeling desperate to keep her talking, to hear her voice, to maintain her attentions.

"It came after a good long while of trail and effort, and I'm hoping I can keep it that way. It's nice here."

"Ah, you think so? It's a little dreary and foggy I think."

Sakura chuckled, glancing back over her shoulder. "I like it like that."

Shisui's heart pinched again.

He was ready to forget about his search for the cursed cast off Obito had taken in years ago and try to make a real effort to court the sorceress for himself because he had been alive for decades upon decades and then decades more and while the world around him changed, he didn't. He was ready to change though. He just needed the right motivation.

"It sounds like you've traveled," he guessed.

Sakura shrugged. "Here and there, until they don't want you anymore. That's how it is."

She stopped on a hill and he stood next to her, looking down to a small little house nestled in the low point between two hills, at the end of a trail leading down to the main road. Coming up from the valley below, heading towards her quaint little cottage a figure walked.

"It looks like you have another visitor," Shisui sighed, hoping she would send him away and instead invite only him into her home to talk of magic and curses and what her life might look like with him in it.

He turned to face her and his easy smile fell away. The gold in her eyes was dazzling as a smile stretched her lips. "No, that's my husband."

Shisui felt his heart fall apart inside his chest as she ran down the hill. He saw her and jogged up, laughing at the way she jumped up and landed in his arms. He spun her once and then let her feet touch the ground so he might lean in and kiss her.

It was sweet, so sweet it made Shisui want to die. It was the most human he felt in his life and he hated it, because there was nothing he could do as all the mysteries fit together into one truth. Kakashi, the man he cursed years ago, was wed to Sakura, and Shisui was never more upset to be right in his life.


	25. Old Dogs

OLD DOGS - KakaSaku

* * *

Kakashi's favorite bar was the one at the edge of the old district, the one with the broken kuni sign outside that seemed to faithfully attract an older crowd no matter how long it had been in business. true, it had some of the best micro brews to find in all the Hidden Leaf, but if Kakashi was being honest, it was the atmosphere he appreciated most of all.

There were cheeper, cleaner, nicer looking bars he could have spent his Saturday night in, but this one suited him just fine. Those places were for the young kids, like his one time genin team. Naruto and his obnoxious friends filled up a room too fast and that wasn't the speed he was looking for anymore.

No, he appreciated a place with a little less distraction for his precious novel reading and ale sipping. Unfortunately, the most distracting thing about any of the young kid bars he tried to avoid was the pretty little pink thing that seemed to be everywhere at once.

He glared at the lines of text in his novel, missing his place as the words morphed into a picture he knew too well. He shut his eyes and tapped his forehead to the spine of his book, knowing he was probably going to hell for even thinking such thoughts.

But it really wasn't his fault, he couldn't help it. She had grow so much so quickly and it wasn't like he was the only one who thought she was God's gift to mankind. Hell, that was one of the reasons she was such a rabid club hopper. There was always someone in there who knew her or wanted to know her or had been saved by her during the war or treated by her some time after. There was always someone younger or nicer looking trying to pin her down and it was torture to watch knowing that would never be him.

She was someone he could never pursue, even after growing as close to her as a second brother. As part of team 7′s original three, Naruto and Sakura were probably the two people he was closest to in terms of relationships, but with Sakura it was different. with Naruto he felt close and bonded. With Sakura… well, with her he felt as far as he could be and too close for comfort all at the same time. He wanted to be intimate with her, but he knew that was a no go zone. He was from a different generation, twelve years older than her, it was dirty.

He curse beneath his mask at all the stupid mental images that started to swell behind his shut eyes. Forbidden romances were soured for him, no thanks to Icha Icha Forbidden Garden.

It was getting so bad he was even hearing her laugh, a voice that tingled the shell of his ear.

No.

He wasn't hearing things, that really was Sakura. He looked up fast, neck snapping as he scanned the room with his matching monochrome eyes. It didn't take long, it _never_ took long to find her.

She was sitting at the counter on a stool talking to Genma. Her cheeks were flushed a healthy rose and her eyes were lit up with the pre buzz sensation. She had downed a few drinks already and was cradling a new beer. If he remembered correctly, she was off from hospital duty tomorrow.

Danger ran down his spine like the fingertips of a dead man. Genma was leaning in, whispering something into her ear while his hand strayed to her thigh. She giggled, clearly more buzzed than Kakashi assumed her to be if she was letting Genma, (GENMA?) of all people feel her up like that.

Genma should have known better. He was the same age as Kakashi, or nearly. He was way too old to be looking at her like that, much less feeling her like that, not when Kakashi endured years of that same wanting. Oh no, oh _hell_ no.

Sakura leaned in and whispered something back before grabbing her clutch and heading to the back where the restrooms were. Genma watched her leave, every step of the way, leering like the pervert he was. It was the perfect opportunity to slip in and halve a friendly word with his _old_ friend.

"What the hell do you think you're doing to my student?"

Gema blinked, not seemingly phased by the furious tone to Kakashi's whisper. "Well hello to you too. Got a drink yet?"

"You're a slimy son of a bitch and you're going to stay away from my student."

"Relax, I wouldn't dream of hitting on Naruto. Boys aren't my type."

"You know what I mean."

Genma blinked, lazily. "No, no I don't. There are only consenting adults here at this bar. If I go home with someone tonight that's not your business."

"Like hell it isn't. You're nearly twice her age!"

"Um, no?" Genma looked offended. "I'm eleven years older, there's a difference. Maybe she likes more experienced men, who cares, she's an adult and she's into me."

"No she's not, she's confused."

Genma rolled his eyes. "Whatever, I'm in to her so I'm not letting her father talk me out of it."

"She's my student!"

Something made the older ninja grind his teeth. When he looked over at Kakashi it was to glare at him. "Yeah, so what? She's hot and funny and somewhat into me and I've kinda liked her for a while, so back off."

"No, if I can't touch her you most certainly can't!"

Genma's annoyance melted into a smirk that made Kakashi's heart sink deep. "Well, if you have the hots for your students that's your problem, not mine, but I'm sure Sakura would like to hear about that. Speaking of the lovely blossom, we have a dango date to get on with."

Genma's grin was wicked as he stood up to meet Sakura halfway from exiting the bathroom. He grabbed her around the waist and she laughed playfully as he led her out towards the exit. They never stopped, but once they were past Genma leaned over his shoulder and mouthed the words "Later loser," in Kakashi's direction.

On a creaking barstool, left with his ex-friend's tab, Kakashi came to the realization that he was going to actually damn a few of his ideals if he was going to have any piece of heart for the rest of his life.


End file.
